Exterior airbag deployment techniques

ABSTRACT

Externally deployed airbag system for a vehicle including one or more inflatable airbags deployable outside of the vehicle, an anticipatory sensor system for assessing the probable severity of an impact involving the vehicle based on data obtained prior to the impact and initiating inflation of the airbag(s) in the event an impact above a threshold severity is assessed, and an inflator coupled to the anticipatory sensor system and the airbag for inflating the airbag when initiated by the anticipatory sensor system. The airbag may be housed in a module mounted along a side of the vehicle, in a side door of the vehicle (both for side impact protection), at a front of the vehicle (for frontal impact protection) or at a rear of the vehicle (for rear impact protection). Also, the externally deployed airbag can be deployed to cushion a pedestrian&#39;s impact against the vehicle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/926,192 filed Oct. 29, 2007 which is:

-   1. a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No.     11/183,598 filed Jul. 18, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,359,782, which     is:

A. a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/180,466 filed Jun. 26, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,459, which is a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/097,082 filed Mar. 13, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,218, which is a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/825,173 filed Apr. 3, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,033, which is:

-   -   1) a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/024,085 filed         Feb. 17, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,909, which is a CIP of         U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/247,760 filed May 23, 1994,         now abandoned; and     -   2) a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/307,883 filed         May 10, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,810; and

B. a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/111,474 filed Apr. 21, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,209,221; and

-   2. a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/874,275 filed Oct.     22, 2007; and -   3. a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/876,861 filed Oct.     23, 2007.

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/735,575 filed Apr. 16, 2007 on the grounds that they contain common subject matter.

These applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to systems and methods for detecting and obtaining information about objects around a vehicle which are likely to impact the vehicle and taking action to reduce the potential harm caused by the impact. More particularly, the present invention relates to anticipatory sensing of an impact involving a vehicle and taking action to reduce the potential harm caused by the impact, namely, deployment of an external airbag to protect a pedestrian or another types of action which can reduce the severity of the impact on the vehicular occupants or even possibly avoid the impact.

All of the references, patents and patent applications that are referred to herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety as if they had each been set forth herein in full. Note that this application is one in a series of applications covering safety and other systems for vehicles and other uses. The disclosure herein goes beyond that needed to support the claims of the particular invention set forth herein. This is not to be construed that the inventors are thereby releasing the unclaimed disclosure and subject matter into the public domain. Rather, it is intended that patent applications have been or will be filed to cover all of the subject matter disclosed below and in the current assignee's granted and pending applications. Also please note that the terms frequently used below “the invention” or “this invention” is not meant to be construed that there is only one invention being discussed. Instead, when the terms “the invention” or “this invention” are used, it is referring to the particular invention being discussed in the paragraph where the term is used.

There are numerous methods and components described and disclosed herein. Many combinations of these methods and components are described but in order to conserve space the inventors have not described all combinations and permutations of these methods and components, however, the inventors intend that each and every such combination and permutation is an invention to be considered disclosed by this disclosure. The inventors further intend to file continuation and continuation in part applications to cover many of these combinations and permutations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Vehicle Exterior Monitoring

1.1 General

During the process of operating a motor vehicle, it is necessary for the operator to obtain information concerning the proximity of various dangerous objects and their relative velocities for the operator to make sound driving decisions, such as whether or not there is enough time to change lanes. This information should be obtained from the area that completely surrounds the vehicle. In order to gather this information, the operator is frequently required to physically turn his or her head to check for occupancy of a blind spot, for example. In taking such an action, the attention of the driver is invariably momentarily diverted from control of the vehicle.

For an automobile, the blind spots typically occur on either side of the vehicle starting approximately at the position of the driver and extending backwards sometimes beyond the rear of the vehicle. The locations of these blind spots depend heavily on the adjustment of the angle of the rear view mirror. Different areas are in the blind spot depending on the mirror angle. Since it is in general not known whether or how the mirror is set for the particular vehicle, a blind spot detector must detect objects anywhere along the sides of the vehicle regardless of the mirror setting.

The problem is more complicated for trucks, enclosed farm tractors and construction equipment that not only can have much larger blind spots along the sides of the vehicle but also can have a serious blind spot starting in front of the right front bumper of the vehicle and extending beyond the right door. This blind spot is particularly serious with trucks and even vans, SUVs and cars in urban driving where small vehicles, motorcycles, pedestrians, bicycles etc. in this area can be completely hidden from the view of the driver.

Several systems have been designed which attempt to rotate the mirror to pick up or allow a driver to visually see the object in the blind spot. This is difficult to do without knowledge of the location of the eyes of the driver. For most systems that do not incorporate an occupant sensor capable of determining the location of the driver's eyes, there is a risk that the mirrors will be positioned wrongly thus exacerbating rather than helping the blind spot detection problem. Also, a system that rotates the mirror will make the driver nervous since he or she will not be able to see the scene that he or she is accustomed to seeing in the mirror.

Monitoring systems that are based on radar or ultrasound have been available but not widely adopted for automobile blind spot detection for reasons related to cost, accuracy and false alarms. Both systems use beams of energy that can become several feet in diameter by the time they reach the edges of the blind spot and thus can confuse a large vehicle or a guardrail, sign, parked car etc. two lanes over with a vehicle in the blind spot. Some such systems attempt to filter threatening objects from non-threatening objects based on the relative speed of the object and thus err by eliminating a significant number of such threats. A tradeoff exists in all such systems where, if all threatening objects are made known to the driver, the false alarm rate becomes unacceptable and the driver soon loses confidence in the system and ignores it. If the false alarm rate is kept low, many dangerous situations are ignored.

These prior art systems thus have serious failure modes. The lesson is that if a vision-based system such as the rear view mirror is going to be replaced with a non-vision system, then the non-vision system must be almost as good as the vision system or it will not be adopted.

Some other problems arise when a vehicle strays into the lane of the host vehicle, i.e., the vehicle with the blind spot detector. Most systems will fail to warn the operator and thus an accident can result. As such, the blind spot problem is really two problems relating to the motion of the potentially striking vehicle and the potentially struck vehicle.

A problem that is addressed herein is to determine what information is needed about the object in the blind spot and then the manner in which this information is presented to the vehicle operator so as to eliminate accidents caused by the failure of the operator to see such an object. This information includes the accurate location of the object relative to the host vehicle, its size, its relative and/or absolute speed, and the identity or kind of object. This information must be known regardless of the changes in road geometry such as steep hills and sharp curves or changes in environmental conditions. Naturally, the system must be low cost if it is going to be purchased by the public or installed by vehicle manufacturers.

Studies have shown that giving the driver an extra half-second could eliminate as many as 50 percent of the accidents. Thus, the risk of an accident must also be communicated to the operator in a timely fashion to permit the driver to take evasive action or not take a particular action such as a lane change.

What is needed therefore is a system that acts like the eyes of the driver and interprets the situation and only gives a warning when there is a real possibility of an accident. A passive warning can be given in the form of a light on the mirror whenever an object is in the blind spot; however, an active signal such as an audible signal or an intervention in the steering of the automobile should only be provided when it is necessary to prevent an accident. This system must work with very high reliability and accuracy since the consequences of an error can be serious injuries or death.

1.2 Blind Spot Detection Systems

The term “blind spot” as used herein is meant to include more than the common definition of the term. See section 7. Definitions for a more complete definition.

In U. Dravidam and S. Tosunoglu, “A survey on automobile collision avoidance system”, Florida conference on recent advances in robotics 1999, the authors provide a good review of the field of obstacle sensors. What follows is a summary of their analysis. Obstacle sensors such as used for blind spot detection can be divided into three types:

Optical sensors include passive infrared, laser radar and vision. They generally are sensitive to external environmental conditions, which may not be a problem for blind spot detection since the objects to be detected are usually nearby the host vehicle. Passive infrared and vision cannot provide a direct measurement of distance to an object unless part of the field of view is illuminated by a point or structured light. Laser radar does provide the capability of direct distance measurement, as will be described below, and a stereo camera can also provide distance information.

AMCW (amplitude modulated continuous wave), FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave) and impulse and noise or pseudo-noise (CDMA—code modulated multiple access) radar are not generally affected by adverse environmental conditions. Although relatively expensive, FMCW radar is a good technique for long-range distance measurement provided the object to be measured can be separated from other objects. Radar in general has a high false alarm rate due to the large pixel size at any significant distance from the host vehicle, to multipath effects and reflections from signs, bridges, guardrails etc.

Ultrasonics are good in applications where only short relative distance measurements are required, since they are able to provide high distance to the target resolution for a relatively low cost. However, for imaging applications, the slow speed and relatively large pixel size renders ultrasonics marginal even for close up targets. Also, ultrasonic waves can be significantly distorted by thermal gradients and wind.

Various researchers have attempted combinations of these technologies with the particular combination of laser radar and pulse or FMCW being quite advantageous for long distance collision avoidance applications.

What follows in a brief description of the principles of operation for different types of sensors including their main advantages and disadvantages. For blind spot applications, sensors should be able to accurately determine the location of the object and the speed of the obstacle relative to the host vehicle. How well this is achieved can be measured with the following indicators:

Sensing range: the maximum and minimum range over which the technique can be used.

Range Resolution: the relative change in range that can be measured.

Pixel Resolution: the width of the beam or size of the pixel received and to which the sensor is sensitive.

Response time: how quickly the sensor can respond to a change in the blind spot occupancy.

Ultrasonics: These sensors work by measuring the time-to-flight of a short burst of ultrasound energy typically at a frequency of 30-200 kHz. The time taken for the ultrasonic waves to travel to and return from the obstacle is directly proportional to the distance between the obstacle and the host vehicle. The main advantage is their relative low cost and small size. These sensors are also very sensitive to changes in the density of air that can be caused by, e.g., high wind velocity and temperature gradients. Velocity can be measured by the Doppler frequency

Passive Infrared: These sensors measure the thermal energy emitted by objects. Their main advantage is their low cost and small size, and main disadvantage is their inability to determine the distance to a detected object and slow response time.

Laser Radar As with regular radar, two techniques exist: (1) a pulsed-beam of infrared light coupled with time-of-flight measurements, and (2) the modulation of a continuous light beam. The pulsed technique offers long range, high directionality, and fast response time. Its limitations are its sensitivity to environmental conditions.

FMCW or AMCW Radar: This type of radar uses modulated microwave or millimeter frequencies, so that the frequency difference between the reflected signal and the transmitted signal is proportional to the relative velocity of the object. When two waves of slightly different frequencies are used, the distance to the object can also be determined by the phase relationship between the two received reflections. Despite its high cost, this technique offers the advantages of being insensitive to environmental conditions, but the disadvantage of having a large pixel size. Velocity can be measured by the Doppler frequency shift.

Impulse Radar: This radar differs from FMCW in that it uses very short pulses instead of a continuous wave. Like FMCW radar, it is insensitive to environmental conditions, and the cost is significantly lower than FMCW. Distance can be determined by time-of-flight measurements and velocity can be determined from successive distance measurements. It also has the disadvantage of having a large pixel size resulting in a high false alarm rate and too little information to permit object identification.

Capacitive and Magnetic: Capacitive and magnetic sensors are able to detect close objects (within about 2 m.), using the capacitance or magnetic field variations between electrodes excited at low frequencies, typically about 5 kHz. Despite their limited range, they are low in cost, and robust to external environmental effects. Poor resolution compared to other techniques makes it unlikely that these devices will be used for blind spot detection since most objects are close to the vehicle.

Vision Systems: These techniques are based on the use of a camera and image-processing software. They are sensitive to external environmental conditions; however, this is not a significant shortcoming for blind spot detection. Active infrared vision systems can have significantly longer range in smoke, fog, snow and rain than human eyesight. This is especially the case if range gating is used (see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/034,325 filed Jan. 12, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,202,776).

Considering now some relevant patent prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,766,421; 4,926,170; 5,122,796; 5,311,012; 5,122,796; 5,354,983; 5,418,359; 5,463,384; and 5,675,326 and International Publication No. WO 90/13103 are all assigned to Auto-Sense, Ltd., Denver, Colo. and describe modulated optical systems. However, these references do not disclose a camera and in fact, each receiver is a single pixel device. The sensor is not mounted on the side rear view mirror but instead is mounted on the rear of the vehicle. These references disclose the use of multiple detectors and thereby achieving a sort of mapping of the detected object into one of several zones. The references also provide a crude velocity measurement of the object moving from one zone to another. Otherwise, they do not provide accurate ranging.

These references describe a blind spot detection system wherein beams of infrared radiation are sent from the interrogating or host vehicle at a significant angle in order to illuminate possible objects in an adjacent lane. No direct measurement of the distance is achieved, however, in some cases multiple detectors are used in such a way that when the adjacent detected vehicle is very close to the detector, that is, below the threshold distance, the sensing of the adjacent vehicle is suppressed. In other cases, multiple beams of infrared are used and distance is inferred by the reception of reflected radiation. The detectors are single pixel devices. No attempt is made to image the detected object. Also, no attempt is made to directly measure the location of the detected object.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,678 describes a phased array radar system wherein the antenna can be made to conform to the geometry of an edge of the automobile. The locations of the antenna, however, make it difficult to detect many objects in the side blind spots. The particular location and velocity of such objects are also not accurately determined. No image of the device is formed. The device is based on a single pixel having a relatively large size making recognition and identification of the object impossible.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,918 describes the use of a combination of two types of radar: dual frequency Doppler radars and frequency modulated continuous wave radar (FMCW). The system provides an indication of the range of the object from the vehicle but does not indicate where in a plane perpendicular to the vehicle the object is located and therefore whether it is a threat or not. Also, the system does not apply pattern recognition so that different types of objects in the blind spot can be identified. This patent gives a good description of the limitations of radar systems.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,975 describes a method for diagnosing when the system is not operating properly by placing an LED outside the vehicle next to the sensor. This is a single pixel device and thus no imaging or object recognition is possible. Range is not measured directly but through a series of sensors whereby each sensor covers a particular zone. Thus, no accurate range measurement is provided. As the object moves in the blind spot area, it is sensed by a variety of the sensors and the last one to sense it gives a crude indication of the distance.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,316 describes an ultrasonic blind spot detecting system that in fact interrogates as much as 200 degrees around the vehicle. It is mounted in place of the conventional mirror and a new side mirror is provided. The ultrasonic sensor rotates until it locates an object and then it causes the mirror to rotate so that the driver can see the object. The patent does not take an image of the threatening object or the object in blind spot. It is a one-pixel device and it does not employ pattern recognition. Additionally, it provides too much information for the driver thus creating the possibility of driver information overload.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,321 describes a camera and an LCD display on the instrument panel. The camera views rearward and the driver sees the image captured on an LCD. It does not disclose a camera mounted on the rear view mirror. The main problem is that the LCD driver-viewing screen is more likely to confuse than to aid the driver due to its poor dynamic light intensity range and the ability to relate the image to the location and velocity of the object in the blind spot.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,261 describes illumination ports at an angle with respect to single pixel receiver ports. Fiber optics are used to transmit the few pixels to a central processing station. There is no direct ranging. Some crude ranging is accomplished since when the object is in certain zones where the projected light overlays the receiving fields, the reflected light can be sensed. It requires multiple locations and cannot be mounted, for example, on the side rearview mirror.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,096 uses Doppler radar to determine the presence and relative velocity of an object blind spot. It filters out stationary objects and concentrates only on those objects that have approximately the same velocity as the vehicle. As a result, many objects, such as a high speed passing vehicle, are missed. A light is used to indicate the presence of an occupying item in the blind spot area and an audible alarm is sounded when the turn signal is activated. There is some crude range measurement possible. It is also a single pixel device and thus, no image of the object can be formed. It invariably will miss objects that move rapidly into blind spot. There is no precise ranging. It does not appear that the system can be easily adjusted for vehicles of different length.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,952 describes an optical system using cameras wherein distance is measured stereoscopically. Objects that are not in the adjacent lane are ignored. The problems are that no attempt is made to analyze the image or to determine its velocity and therefore, a high false alarm rate can be expected. Although the image is captured, the information is ignored except for its use to determine a stereo distance.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,072 describes a phased array radar system that can scan the blind spot as well as all other areas around vehicle. However, the system does not provide an image and therefore no optical pattern recognition is possible. The 10-degree divergence angle of radar indicates that a single pixel has a diameter of over 3 feet at 20 feet from the radar transmitter, which is insufficient resolution to determine the lane that the threatening vehicle is occupying, especially if there is a slight curvature in the road. Such a system is not sufficiently accurate to provide drivers who are attempting to merge into adjacent lanes with sufficiently accurate position information to permit a safe merge under heavy traffic without visual contact. Additionally, there is no pattern recognition claimed or even possible with this low resolution device.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,196 describes a multi-frequency radar system using Doppler techniques. Stationary objects are filtered out. In fact, the system also only looks at objects that are traveling at approximately the same speed as the host vehicle. It has a good range of 0.25 to 100 feet. Some problems are that this system will interfere with other vehicles having the same system. There appears to be no direct measurement of the object's position, but it does give a good distance resolution of 0.55 feet. This patent also contemplates the use of steering wheel angle and vehicle speed inputs to the system. Even though ultrasonic, infrared and radar are disclosed, it is still a single pixel system. Once again, the system will invariably miss a high-speed vehicle passing on either the right or the left since it is limited to a two mile per hour velocity difference between the blind spot object and the host vehicle. It also appears to be a very expensive system. Another potential problem is that when an especially long truck having the system of this patent is turning, the system would pick up the end of truck and treat it as an object in the blind spot.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,539 uses thermal imaging to recognize a car or truck in the blind spot. It uses a vibrating element between the field of view containing the blind spot using three lenses thus giving three different locations and a reference field of view that is the road behind the vehicle. One problem with this device is that this system does not know where the infrared rays are coming from. It could be from the sun or from reflections from the wrong lane. The slow cycle time prevents averaging to eliminate errors. At a 60 km per hour passing rate, the vehicle will travel 1.7 m each cycle based on a 10 hertz cycle rate. The patent also mentions that the form of the signal that comes from a vehicle and the blind spot has high frequency associated with it whereas the form of the signal from the road does not. This is an alternate method of discriminating between a vehicle and the road but one that still lacks resolution.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,670,935 describes a camera and a display where the actual images of the vehicle in the blind spot and behind the subject vehicle are displayed on the visual display. Unfortunately, the various figures in the patent that illustrate this phenomenon are not accurate and appear to show that the positions of the vehicles relative to the subject vehicle can be visually seen which is not the case. Thus, the invention described in this patent cannot be used for blind spot detection in the manner described since the relative locations of vehicles cannot be determined. Also, no attempt has been made to identify and analyze objects in the blind spot and warn the driver of a pending accident.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,116 describes a system wherein a torque is artificially applied to the steering wheel to keep a driver in the center of his lane. This is not a blind spot related patent but this same technique can be used to prevent a driver from attempting to change lanes when there is an object in the blind spot.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,496 describes a lane boundary finder. It uses a linear array of LEDs plus a linear CCD with a total of 64 pixels in the CCD array. It can be used for blind spot monitoring, although this is not the main purpose of this invention. The CCD array suffers from the problem that, due to its limited dynamic range, it can be overwhelmed by light from the sun, for example, reflected off a vehicle or other surface. Since there is only a linear array of only 64 pixels, no information as to what is in the blind spot can be obtained. In other words, the system knows that something is in the blind spot but does not know what it is or even accurately where it is. Nevertheless, the use of the scanning system disclosed wherein the particular pixel or the beam that is being activated to create a light on a leading or reflecting surface is an important addition to the technology and may also be used with this invention.

International Publication No. WO 95/25322 describes a passive infrared blind spot detector that processes infrared waves based on a crude form of pattern recognition. There is no accurate ranging and there will likely be a high false alarm rate with this system. There is also sometimes a period when the system is unavailable due to changes in ambient conditions such as the start of a rain shower or when the temperature of the road changes due to shading. It is a one-pixel device and therefore does not permit the location of the object in the blind spot to be determined. This device and other similar passive infrared devices will have trouble distinguishing between a small objects such as a motorcycle which is relatively close to the sensor and larger objects such as a truck which are relatively far away, for example two lanes over. As a result, it will likely falsely indicate that a relatively large object is within a danger zone when in reality the object is at a distance and does not pose a threat.

International Publication No. WO 99/42856 describes a rear of vehicle mounted blind spot detector based on various radar systems. It has the capability of tracking multiple targets and of accurately determining the ranges to the various targets using range-gating techniques. It does not attempt to capture an image of an object in the blind spot or determine the identity of such an object and thus many non-threatening objects will appear to be threatening. Accordingly, the system can be expected to have a high false alarm rate.

In general, the poor resolution of radar systems requires that they use relative velocity as a filter in order to reduce the false alarm rate. As a result, such systems miss a high-speed vehicle that is in the blind spot and was not observed approaching the blind spot by the driver. This is a very common occurrence on European superhighways and in the United States on two lane roads.

Thus, none of the related art described above discloses a method or apparatus of monitoring the area surrounding a vehicle that analyzes an image of one or more objects that occupy the blind spot, identifying them and determining the location and relative velocity of the objects relative to the host vehicle in a manner that permits an accurate warning to be issued to the driver of a potentially dangerous situation.

1.3 Optical Methods

Optics can be used in several configurations for monitoring the exterior of a vehicle. The receiver can be a CCD or CMOS imager, to receive the emitted or reflected light. A laser can either be used in a scanning mode, or, through the use of a lens, a cone or beam of light can be created which covers a large portion of the object in the blind spot. Alternately, a combination of these techniques can be used such as a scanning beam or an adjustable lens system that converts a laser beam to a converging, constant diameter or expanding illuminator. In these configurations, the light can be accurately controlled to only illuminate particular positions of interest on the vehicle. In the scanning mode, the receiver need only comprise a single or a few active elements while in the case of the cone of light, an array of active elements is needed. The laser system has one additional significant advantage in that the distance to the illuminated object can be determined as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,462.

In a simpler case, light generated by a non-coherent light emitting diode (LED) device is used to illuminate a desired area. In this case, the area covered is not as accurately controlled and a larger CCD or CMOS array is required. Recently, the cost of CCD and CMOS arrays has dropped substantially with the result that this configuration is now a cost-effective system for monitoring the blind spot as long as the distance from the transmitter to the objects is not needed. If greater distance is required, then a laser system using modulation and phase detection or time-of-flight techniques, a stereographic system, a focusing system, a combined ultrasonic and optic system, or a multiple CCD or CMOS array system as described herein, or other equivalent systems, can be used. In a particular implementation, the illuminating light is in the form of a modulated infrared laser light that is scanned in a line that illuminates an object in the blind spot. The reflected light is received by a pin or avalanche diode, or equivalent, after passing through a narrow frequency band notch or other appropriate filter. The diode is a single pixel device, although several or an array of diodes can be used, but since the direction of the transmitted light is known, the direction of the reflected light is also known. The phase of received light is then compared with the transmitted light. The modulating frequency can be selected so that no more than one wavelength of light exists within the blind spot area. The location of the reflecting object can then be determined by the phase difference between the transmitted and reflected light. Although the described system uses a line scan, it is also possible to use a two-dimensional scan and thereby obtain a three-dimensional map of the area of interest. This can be done using a pin or avalanche diode or equivalent as described or the light can be received by a CMOS array and can be monitored on a pixel by pixel basis in a manner similar to the PMD system described in Schwarte, et. al. “New Powerful Sensory Tool in Automotive Safety Systems Based on PMD-Technology” 4th International Conference—Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications, Apr. 6th/7th, 2000, Berlin (Germany). In this latter case, the entire blind spot area may be flooded with modulated infrared light as described in the paper. On the other hand, it is difficult to overcome the light from natural sources such as the sun by a single floodlight source and therefore a line or even a scanning point source permits better distance measurement using a light source of reasonable intensity. An alternative is to increase the power of the transmitted illumination, for example by using a high power diode laser, and to increase the beam diameter to remain below eye safety limits.

This technique can also be used for vehicle velocity determination and at the same time the topology of the ground covered by the scanning laser can be determined and reflections from rocks and other debris can be eliminated from the velocity calculation for applications where the prime goal is to determine the vehicle velocity relative to the ground.

A mechanical focusing system, such as used on some camera systems can determine the initial position of an object in the blind spot. A distance measuring system based of focusing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,124 (Subbarao) which can either be used with a mechanical focusing system or with two cameras. Although the Subbarao patent provides a good discussion of the camera focusing art, it can be more complicated than is needed for the practicing the instant invention. A neural network or optical correlation system, as described below, can also be used to perform the distance determination based on the two images taken with different camera settings or from two adjacent CCD's and lens having different properties as the cameras disclosed in Subbarao making this technique practical for the purposes of some of the inventions disclosed herein. Distance can also be determined by the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,166 (Girod) by the spreading or defocusing of a pattern of structured light projected onto the object of interest. Distance can also be measured by using time-of-flight measurements of the electromagnetic waves or by multiple CCD or CMOS arrays as is a principle teaching herein.

There will be conditions when the optical system from the CMOS camera has deteriorated due to contaminants obscuring the lens. Similarly, the light emitting laser diodes will emit less light if the lenses are soiled. The system of this invention contemplates a continuous diagnostic feature that will permit sensing of either of these conditions. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways such as a laser diode aimed at the road surface close to the vehicle but within view of the CMOS camera. If the reflection over a period of time is not sufficient, then a warning light will appear on the instrument panel informing the driver that maintenance is required. Naturally, there are many other methods by which a similar diagnostic can be accomplished.

Except as noted, there appears to be no significant prior art for the optically based apparatus and methods of the inventions disclosed herein. In particular for optical systems that obtain sufficient information about objects in the area surrounding the vehicle to permit a pattern recognition system.

1.4 Combined Optical and Acoustic Methods

Both laser and non-laser optical systems in general are good at determining the location of objects within the two-dimensional plane of the image and a pulsed or modulated laser or continuous modulated radar system in the scanning mode can determine the distance of each part of the image from the receiver by measuring the time-of-flight, correlation or by phase measurement. It is also possible to determine distance with the non-laser system by focusing as discussed above, or stereographically if two spaced apart receivers are used and, in some cases, the mere location in the field of view can be used to estimate the position of the object in the blind spot, for example.

Acoustic systems are additionally quite effective at distance measurements since the relatively low speed of sound permits simple electronic circuits to be designed and minimal microprocessor capability is required. If a coordinate system is used where the z-axis is from the transducer to the object, acoustics are good at measuring z dimensions while simple optical systems using a single CCD are good at measuring x and y dimensions. The combination of acoustics and optics, therefore, permits all three measurements to be made from one location with low cost components as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,613 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,000.

One example of such a system is an optical system that uses natural light coupled with a lens and CCD or CMOS array which receives and displays the image and an analog to digital converter (ADC), or frame grabber, which digitizes the output of the CCD or CMOS and feeds it to an artificial neural network (ANN), correlation system or other pattern recognition system for analysis. This system uses an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver for measuring the distances to the objects located in the area or volume of interest. The receiving transducer feeds its data into an ADC and from there, the converted data is directed to the ANN. The same ANN can be used for both systems thereby providing full three-dimensional data for the ANN to analyze. This system, using low cost components, will permit accurate identification and distance measurements not possible by either system acting alone. If a phased array system is added to the acoustic part of the system, the optical part can determine the location of the object and the phased array can direct a narrow beam to the location and determine the distance to the object through time-of-flight, for example. This technique is especially applicable for objects near the host vehicle. Naturally, the combination of radar and optics can also be used in a similar manner at a significant cost penalty.

Although the use of ultrasound for distance measurement has many advantages, it also has some drawbacks. First, the speed of sound limits the rate at which the position of the object can be updated. Second, ultrasound waves are diffracted by changes in air density that can occur when thermal gradients are present or when there is a high-speed flow of air past the transducer, compensation techniques exist as reported in the current assignee's patents and applications such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,279,946, 6,517,107 and 6,856,876. Third, the resolution of ultrasound is limited by its wavelength and by the transducers, which are high Q tuned devices. Typically, the resolution of ultrasound is on the order of about 2 to 3 inches. Finally, the fields from ultrasonic transducers are difficult to control so that reflections from unwanted objects or surfaces add noise to the data. In spite of these drawbacks, ultrasound is a fine solution in some applications such as for velocity and displacement determination for automobiles in rear end impacts and farm tractors and construction machines where the operating speeds are low compared with automobiles.

1.5 Discussion of the External Monitoring Problem and Solutions

The above review of related art blind spot detecting systems illustrates that no existing system is believed to be sufficiently adequate. A fundamental problem is that vehicle operators are familiar with visual systems and inherently distrust all other technology. As soon as the non-visual system gives a false alarm or fails to detect an object in the blind spot, the operator will cease to depend on the system. Theoretically, the best systems would be based on cameras that allow the operator to view all of the blind spots. However, there are no adequate display systems that will appear to the operator to be equivalent to an actual view of the scene. CRTs and LCDs require driver concentration and do not have the dynamic range of lighting that is comparable to the real world. Either the display will be too bright at night or too dim during daylight or the wrong object will be bright compared with the object of interest. Although radar systems can accurately measure distance to an object, they are poor at placing the object in the lateral and vertical coordinates relative to the vehicle and thus create many false alarms.

The simplest system must be able to accurately position the object in the blind spot, or other area of interest, relative to the host vehicle and inform the driver that a collision potential exists if the driver decides to change lanes, for example. This warning must be given to the driver either at a place where he can almost subconsciously observe the warning when he is contemplating a lane change maneuver, or it must provide an audible warning if he attempts to make such a lane change maneuver. Finally, such a system might even prevent a driver from executing such a maneuver. A more sophisticated system involving icons will be discussed below.

To accomplish these goals, it is desirable to positively locate an object in the area of interest such as one or more blind spots and provide some identification as to what that object is. A driver will respond quite differently if the object is a guardrail or a line of parked cars then he will if it is a Porsche overtaking him at 150 kph.

Thus, the requirements of the system are to identify the object and to locate the object relative to the host vehicle. To identify the object preferably requires a pattern recognition system such as neural networks or optical correlation systems discussed below. To locate the object preferably requires some means for measuring the distance from the camera or other sensor to the object. A CMOS camera is quite capable of capturing an image of an object in the blind spot, for example, and if the camera is an HDRC camera, then it can perform well under all normal lighting conditions from midnight to bright sunshine especially if minimal illumination is provided on dark nights.

However, even the HDRC camera can be blinded by the sun and thus an alternate solution is to use a scanning laser radar where the point of IR can overpower the emissions of the sun at that wavelength. A scanning laser radar can scan in either one or two dimensions depending on the design. The scanning mechanism can be a rotating polygon mirror, vibrating galvanometer-type mirror, a vibrating MEMS mirror or a solid-state acoustical-optical crystal. In the case of the solid-state device, one or more special lenses or reflectors can be used to increase the effective scan angle. The IR wavelength can be in the far, mid or near IR bands. If the wavelength is in the mid-IR band, it can be selected so as to provide the greatest range in rain, snow or fog. Also, its amplitude at the selected wavelength should be sufficient to be detected in bright sunlight. Range gating can also be used to partially overcome the effects of rain, snow, fog and/or smoke.

An alternate to the HDRC camera is to use an electronic shutter and/or variable iris. In this case, the camera can be operated in the range that best images objects of interest or a series of images can be taken at different settings and portions of each image combined to create a sharp image of the area of interest as reported in S. K. Nayar and T. Mitsunaga, “High Dynamic Range Imaging: Spatially Varying Pixel Exposures”, Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, June 2000, for example.

The measurement of the distance to the object can be accomplished in many different ways including ultrasonically, using laser radar (lidar), FMCW or AMCW radar, micropower impulse radar, any of which can be combined with range gating. All of these distance measuring techniques as well as stereographic, focusing, structured light, triangulation, correlation using random or pseudorandom code modulation and other similar techniques are envisioned for use in some of the inventions described herein and in general there is little prior art describing any of these methods or systems for monitoring the area exterior to a vehicle.

A low-cost preferred approach of solving the distance-measuring problem that is consistent with an HDRC camera system is to project onto the volume of the area of interest a series of infrared light pulses. These pulses are created by an array of laser diodes that are displaced from the camera in such a manner that a pulse of light reflected off of an object in the blind spot will appear on a certain pixel area in the camera field of view and since the location of the transmission of the pulse is known and the location of the camera is known, the distance to the reflecting surface is also known by triangulation. By a judicial choice of transmission angles from the laser diode array, the entire volume of the blind spot can be covered with sufficient accuracy so that no significant object can penetrate the blind spot without creating a reflection and thereby permitting the distance to the object to be determined. No prior art has been uncovered describing this or a similar principle.

In one implementation, a series of pulses from a laser diode array are contemplated. Other techniques will also accomplish the same goal, however, at a generally higher cost. For example, a continuous laser beam can be used that would scan the blind spot area, for example, in either one or two dimensions. Since the direction of the laser will be known that all times its reflection and excitation of pixels on the CMOS array would permit, once again, an accurate, mapping of the distance to various points on the object in the blind spot to be accomplished. This technique however requires a scanning laser system that in general, although more accurate, would be more expensive than a simple array of LEDs. Once again, the photonic mixing device described above would also provide a three-dimensional image of the contents of the blind spot as would a similar and preferred system described below.

Another technique is to superimpose on the blind spot area, for example, a pattern of light commonly referred to as structured light. The source of the structured light must be displaced from the imaging array. By observing characteristics of the reflected pattern, such as the distances between portions of the pattern, the distance to the object can be determined. This system, although common in machine vision applications, requires greater computational resources than the simple LED array described above. Nevertheless, it is a viable approach and envisioned for use in the invention and again there appears to be little, if any prior art for the use on structured light in monitoring the area surrounding a vehicle.

Various forms of structured light coupled with other patterns which are either inherent in the lens of the camera or are superimposed mathematically on the image can create what is commonly known as Moiré patterns that also permit the determination of the distance from the camera to the object. In some sophisticated examples, this technique can actually provide the equivalent of topographical maps of the object in the area of interest that would be of value in interpreting or identifying an object. However, these techniques require more computational power and may are not be as cost-effective as the simple LED array described above or a linear scanning LED or laser with a pin diode, or equivalent, receiver as disclosed below. Nevertheless, these techniques are viable for many applications and will become more so as component prices decrease.

All of these systems permit differentiation between light that is reflected from the transmitted infrared systems and reflected light from the sunlight, for example. It is quite likely that at certain times, certain pixels in the camera will receive infrared radiation that overwhelms the reflection of the infrared sent by the host vehicle system. If this radiation comes from pixels other than those that are expected, then the system will know that the results are erroneous. Thus, the systems described above have the capability of permitting the diagnosis of the data and thereby achieving a high accuracy of the results. If the results do not agree with what is expected, then they can be ignored. If that happens over a significant period of time, then the operator of the vehicle is warned that the area monitoring system is non-operational.

Using sophisticated image processing and mathematical techniques, however, it is expected that those periods of non-functionality will be minimal. The vehicle operator however will not be subjected to a false alarm but instead will be told that the system is temporarily non-operational due to excessive sunlight etc. A typical driver can easily relate to this phenomenon and thereby would not lose confidence in the system. The use of a narrow notch filter, as well as polarizing filters, can significantly improve the separation of the artificially illuminated reflected light from the light reflected from the sun.

Initially, one would assume that the only situation that the driver of a vehicle should be concerned with is if he or she decides to change lanes and after looking into the rear view mirror and not seeing an object in the blind spot, proceeds to change lanes. Unfortunately, the blind spot problem is significantly more complicated. The road may be curved and the lane changing maneuver might be quite easily accomplished. However, based on the geometry of the blind spot detecting system, using prior art systems, the driver is warned that he cannot execute such a lane change. This may be fallacious in that the vehicle that the system determines is in the blind spot may actually be in a different lane. Under the stress of congested driving conditions, the driver will not tolerate an erroneous message and thereby he might lose confidence in the system.

The identification of the object in the blind spot or other area of interest is important and a significant part of one or more of the present inventions disclosed below. Previous blind spot detectors have only indicated that there is a reflection from some object that is near the vehicle that may or may not interfere with the desired intentions of the vehicle operator to change lanes or execute some other maneuver. This is very disquieting to a vehicle operator who was told that something is there but not what that something is. For example, let us say that an operator of a vehicle wished to move that vehicle to the situation where he is partially on the shoulder in order to avoid a vehicle that is intruding onto his lane from the right. Most if not all current systems would tell the vehicle operator that he cannot do so. The system described in the present invention would say that there is a guard rail fifteen feet to your left, thereby allowing movement of 10 feet onto the shoulder and thereby avoid the vehicle intruding onto the lane from the right. This is a real world situation, yet all existing blind spot detection systems would give an erroneous answer or no answer at all to the vehicle operator.

Future automobile safety systems will likely be based on differential GPS and centimeter accurate maps of the roadway. The blind spot detector of this invention is an interim step to help eliminate some of the accidents now taking place. The particular geometry of the road is unknown to vehicles today, therefore, a blind spot detection system cannot use information that says, for example, that the road is about to take a sudden curve to the left, in its decision-making function. Nevertheless, this is a real situation and the system for detecting objects in the blind spot should not give erroneous information to be operator that he is about to have collision when the cause of this analysis is based on the assumption that the road will be straight when in fact a strong left turn is taking place. Note that prior to the presence of accurate maps even the inaccurate maps that now exist or of probe vehicle augmented maps can still be used to aid in this problem.

This problem cannot be solved absolutely at this time but if features such as angular position of the steering wheel of the host vehicle are data that can be entered into the system, then these types of situations can become less threatening. A preferred implementation of the present invention uses data from other vehicle sources in the decision making process including the steering wheel angle, vehicle speed etc. and map and location information if available.

In prior art blind spot detection systems, the inventors have generally realized that the operator of the vehicle cannot be continuously informed that there is an object in the blind spot. Every driver on the highway during rush hour would otherwise be subjected to a barrage of such warnings. Prior art systems have therefore generally provided an optical warning typically placed as an LED on the rear view mirror and an audible alert sounded when the driver activates the turn signal. Unfortunately, under normal driving conditions only about 70% of drivers use their turn signals as an indication of a lane change. Under stressful congested automobile driving situations, one can expect that the percentage would drop significantly. The driver must be warned when he is about to change lanes but the activation of a turn signal is not sufficient. Even crude maps that are available on route guidance systems today can add valuable information to the system by permitting the anticipation of a curve in the road, for example, especially if augmented with data from probe vehicles.

Various studies have shown that the intentions of a driver can sometimes be forecasted based on his activities during a several second period prior to execution of the maneuver. Such systems that monitor the driver and, using neural networks for example, try to forecast a driver's action can be expected to be somewhat successful. However, these computationally intensive systems are probably not practical at this time.

Another method is to provide a simulated audio rumble strip or vibrating actuation to the steering wheel at such time as the driver elects to redirect the motion of the vehicle based on an object in the blind spot. Whereas a rumble strip-type message can be sent to the driver, control of the vehicle cannot be assumed by the system since the road in fact may be executing a sharp curve and taking control of the vehicle might actually cause an accident.

The audio rumble strip method, or a tactile or other haptic messaging system, is the preferred approach to informing the driver of a potentially dangerous situation. Initially, a resistance would be applied to the steering wheel when the driver attempts to alter the course of the vehicle. Since the system will not know whether the driver is following a curve in the road or in fact changing lanes, the driver will be able to easily overcome this added resistance but nevertheless, it should indicate to the driver that there is a potential problem. If the driver persists, then a slight to moderate vibration would be applied to the steering wheel. Once again, this would be easily overcome by the driver but nevertheless should serve to positively warn the driver that he or she is about to execute a maneuver that might result in an accident based on the fact that there is an object in the blind spot.

The blind spot problem for trucks is particularly difficult. Trucks experience the same type of blind spot as do automobiles where the blind spot extends the length of the vehicle. However, the truck driver is also unable to see objects that are in another blind spot extending from forward of the front of the vehicle back typically 25 feet. This blind spot has been discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,384 and International Publication No. WO 90/13103. Trucks also have blind spots behind the trailer that are problematic during backup maneuvers. The invention disclosed herein is applicable to all three blind spot situations for trucks, automobiles or other vehicles.

It is noteworthy that some trucks have the capability of automatically rotating the side rear view mirrors based on the relative angle between the cab and the trailer. Such mirror systems are designed so that they maintain their orientation relative to the trailer rather than the cab. The blind spot monitoring system of this invention can make appropriate use of this technology to monitor the space along side of the trailer rather then cab.

Buses, trucks and various municipal people conveyors also have a blind spot directly in front vehicle and children have been run over by school buses when the driver was not aware that a child was crossing in front of the bus after embarking from the bus. The system of this invention is also applicable for monitoring this blind spot and warning a bus driver that a child is in this blind spot.

Naturally, the images obtained from various locations outside of the vehicle can alternately be achieved by cameras or by fiber-optic systems. The inventions herein are not limited to the physical placement of cameras at particular locations when a fiber optic transmission system could be used as well.

2. Displays

Several systems have been proposed that display a view of the blind spot, using a video camera, onto a display either on the instrument panel or on the windshield as a “heads-up” display. Any system that displays a picture of the object on the screen that is inside the vehicle is also going to confuse the driver since he or she will not be able to relate that picture to an object such as another vehicle in the blind spot on the side of the host vehicle. Additionally, the state of the art of such displays does not provide equally observable displays at night and in bright sunlight. Thus, displays on a CRT or LCD are not natural and it is difficult for a driver to adjust to these views. The lighting of the views is too faint when sunlight is present and too bright when the vehicle is operating at night or the brightest object is not the object of interest and can be difficult to see in the presence of brighter objects. Therefore, none of the prior art television-like displays can replace the actual visual view of the occupant.

An advanced display system could be to provide a simple icon image of the host vehicle and all surrounding vehicles as viewed from above. In this manner, with a simple glance, the driver can determine the location and identity of all objects that are in his blind spot or in the vicinity of the vehicle in any direction. If this display is kept simple, then the problems of visual dynamic range become much less severe. That is, if the driver need only see dark objects on a white background and if the size of these objects is significant, then the display could be viewed both at night and under daylight conditions.

In some parts of the United States, satellite images are available in real time that show traffic patterns including the subject vehicle. If the vehicle knows exactly its location and the location of the image, then a view of the area surrounding the subject vehicle can be superimposed on a display and the vehicle operator can see the traffic situation surrounding his or her vehicle from above. Also, using pattern recognition, the salient features of the image can be extracted and displayed as icons on a display thereby simplifying the interpretation problem for the driver as discussed above. However such a system would fail in tunnels and under heavy foliage.

A preferred implementation of at least one of the inventions herein is to use a passive optical system for monitoring the presence of objects in the area of interest external to the vehicle. Pattern recognition technologies such as neural networks and optical correlation systems will be used to positively identify the object that is in the monitored areas. This object may be a pedestrian, bicyclist, motorcyclist, guardrail, animal, automobile, truck, fire hydrant, tree, telephone pole, sign or whatever. The system will be trained or otherwise programmed to inform the operator either optically or orally that such an object appears in the blind spot. It will also inform the driver as to which blind spot contains the object. The system can also inform the driver as to whether this object is moving or stationary in an absolute sense and/or also in relation to the host vehicle. This information can be presented to the operator in a variety of ways. Initially, a light or simple icon can appear on the rear view mirror, for example, indicating either that some object exists or that a particular object exists.

In more sophisticated systems, an icon representing the object can be placed on a simple icon display which can show the vehicle from an overhead view, or other convenient view, and an icon which shows the blind spot object and its location. Alternately, an oral annunciation can be provided which tells the driver that, for example, there is a guardrail three feet to his left, or that there is an automobile approaching from the rear in an adjacent lane at a relative speed of 100 kph and is currently 50 feet behind the vehicle. All of these types of warnings can be provided if identification can be made of the object in the blind spot and an accurate measurement made of the position and velocity of that object relative to the host vehicle. This will be discussed below.

It can be seen from this description that the system in accordance with the invention will inform the driver of the type of object in the blind spot, where it is located specifically, what its velocity is relative to the host vehicle, and in more sophisticated systems, will show graphically an icon showing the object relative to the vehicle from an overhead view, for example, which is easily understandable by the driver with a mere glance at the display. Therefore, the system overcomes all of the objections and problems described above with respect to the prior art systems.

Although simple icon displays are contemplated by this invention, this is due to the lack of sophistication or capability of current display technology. In other words, the dynamic range of light that can be emitted by conventional displays is insufficient to display other than the simplest messages. Technology advances and it is expected that accurate color displays with high dynamic range will be become available based, for example, organic display technology. When such displays are available, a more accurate representation of the object in the blind spot even to the point of an actual image might become feasible.

The inventions herein do not generally contemplate the use of rear view mirrors to permit the vehicle operator to actually see the contents of the blind spot. This is because to accurately accomplish this requires knowledge of the position of the eyes of the driver. It is been observed that drivers adjust side rear view mirrors over an extended range that renders the use of the mirror angle unsuitable for determining the position of the driver's eyes. Furthermore, the driver may change his or her seating position without changing the position of the rear view mirror. Occupant sensing systems are now being developed for vehicles that have the capability of determining the location of the eyes of a vehicle operator. For those vehicles that contain such a system, the possibility exists not only to automatically adjust the mirror to optimally display the contents of the blind spot, but also to change the orientation of the mirror when some object that the driver should be aware of is in the blind spot. This invention therefore contemplates such activities when occupant sensing systems are placed on vehicles.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,429,789 discloses the use of icons in a display system for sensed exterior objects but does not explain how such objects are identified or how to effectively display the icons so as to not confuse the driver. To display an icon without knowing which icon to display or where to display it is of little value.

3. Identification

Neural networks and in particular combination neural networks are used in several of the implementations of this invention as the pattern recognition technology since it makes the monitoring system accurate, robust, reliable and practical. The resulting algorithm(s) created by a neural network program is usually only a few hundred lines of code written in the C or C++ computer language. The resulting systems are easy to implement at a low cost, making them practical for automotive applications. The cost of the CCD and CMOS arrays, for example, have been expensive until recently, rendering their use for around vehicle area monitoring systems impractical. Similarly, the implementation of the techniques of the above referenced patents frequently requires expensive microprocessors while the implementation with neural networks and similar trainable pattern recognition technologies permits the use of low cost microprocessors typically costing less than $10 in large quantities.

In using neural networks the data is usually preprocessed, as discussed below, using various feature extraction techniques. An example of such a pattern recognition system using neural networks on sonar signals is discussed in two papers by Gorman, R. P. and Sejnowski, T. J. “Analysis of Hidden Units in a Layered Network Trained to Classify Sonar Targets”, Neural Networks, Vol. 1. pp 75-89, 1988, and “Learned Classification of Sonar Targets Using a Massively Parallel Network”, IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Vol. 36, No. 7, July 1988. Examples of feature extraction techniques can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,940 entitled “Process and Apparatus for the Automatic Detection and Extraction of Features in Images and Displays” to Green et al. Examples of other more advanced and efficient pattern recognition techniques can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,136 entitled “Artificial Neuron and Method of Using Same and U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,667 entitled “Neural Network and Method of Using Same” to S. T. Wang. Other examples include U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,339 (Morrison et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,744 (Schweizer et al), U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,254 (Schweizer et al), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,270 (Knecht et al).

Although a trained neural network or combination neural network is contemplated for preferred embodiments of this invention, adaptive neural networks and other forms of artificial intelligent systems are also applicable especially where the host vehicle may be towing different loads that could confuse a static trained system. In this case, part of the system can be made adaptive to adjust to the particular load being pulled by the vehicle.

4. Anticipatory Sensors

The principles of the inventions disclosed herein can also be used for other purposes such as intelligent cruise control, speed over ground sensors, parking aids, height sensors for active suspensions, anticipatory crash sensors and obstacle detection systems. One particular application is for rear impact anticipatory sensors where both the distance and velocity (perhaps using Doppler principles where applicable) can be determined and used to deploy a movable headrest or equivalent.

4.1 Positioning Airbags

Frontal impacts were the number one killer of vehicle occupants in automobile accidents with about 16,000 fatalities each year. Side impacts were the second cause of automobile related deaths with about 8,000 fatalities each year. The number of fatalities in frontal impacts as well as side impacts has been decreasing due to the introduction of airbags and mandatory seatbelt use laws.

Several automobile manufacturers are now using side impact airbags to attempt to reduce the number of people killed or injured in side impacts. The side impact problem is considerably more difficult to solve in this way than the frontal impact problem due to the lack of space between the occupant and the side door and to the significant intrusion of the side door into the passenger compartment which typically accompanies a side impact.

Some understanding of the severity of the side impact problem can be obtained by a comparison with frontal impacts. In the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 49 kph crash test which applies to frontal impacts, the driver, if unrestrained, will impact the steering wheel at about 30 kph. With an airbag and a typical energy absorbing steering column, there is about 40 cm to about 50 cm of combined deflection of the airbag and steering column to absorb this 30 kph difference in relative velocity between the driver and vehicle interior. Also, there is usually little intrusion into the passenger compartment to reduce this available space.

In the FMVSS 214 standard crash for side impacts, the occupant, whether restrained or not, is impacted by the intruding vehicle door also at about 30 kph. In this case, there is only about 10 to 15 cm of space available for an airbag to absorb the relative velocity between the occupant and the vehicle interior. In addition, the human body is more vulnerable to side impacts than frontal impacts and there is usually significant intrusion into the passenger compartment. A more detailed discussion of side impacts can be found in a paper by Breed et al, “Sensing Side Impacts”, Society of Automotive Engineers Paper No. 940651, 1994.

Ideally, an airbag for side impact protection would displace the occupant away from the intruding vehicle door in an accident and create the required space for a sufficiently large airbag. Sensors used for side impact airbags, however, usually begin sensing the crash only at the beginning of the impact at which time there is insufficient time remaining to move the occupant before he is impacted by the intruding door. Even if the airbag were inflated instantaneously, it is still not possible to move the occupant to create the desired space without causing serious injury to the occupant. The problem is that the sensor that starts sensing the crash when the impact has begun is already too late, i.e., once the sensor detects the crash, it is usually too late to properly inflate the airbag.

There has been discussion over the years in the vehicular safety community about the use of anticipatory sensors so that the side impact accident could be sensed before it occurs. Prior to 1994, this was not practical due to the inability to predict the severity of the accident prior to the impact. A heavy truck, for example, or a tree is a much more severe accident at low velocity than a light vehicle or motorcycle at high velocity. Further, it was not possible to differentiate between these different accidents with a high degree of certainty.

Once a sufficiently large airbag is deployed in a side impact and the driver displaced away from the door and the steering wheel, he will no longer be able to control the vehicle that could in itself cause a serious accident. It is critically important, therefore, that such an airbag not be deployed unless there is great certainty that the driver would otherwise be seriously injured or killed by the side impact. Anticipatory sensors have previously not been used because of their inability to predict the severity of the accident. As discussed more fully below, the present invention solves this problem and therefore makes anticipatory sensing practical. This permits side impact airbag systems that can save a significant percentage of the people who would otherwise be killed as well as significantly reducing the number and severity of injuries. This is accomplished through the use of pattern recognition technologies such as neural networks such as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,782.

Neural networks, and more recently modular neural networks, are capable of pattern recognition with a speed, accuracy and efficiency previously not possible. It is now possible, for example, to recognize that the front of a truck or another car is about to impact the side of a vehicle when it is one to three meters or more away even in fog, smoke, rain or snow and further away if range gating is used. This totally changes the side impact strategy since there is now time to inflate a large airbag and push the occupant out of the way of the soon to be intruding vehicle. Not all side impacts are of sufficient severity to warrant this action and therefore, there will usually be a dual inflation system as described in more detail below.

Although the main application for anticipatory sensors is in side impacts, frontal impact anticipatory sensors can also be used to identify the impacting object before the crash occurs. Prior to going to a full frontal impact anticipatory sensor system, neural networks can be used to detect many frontal impacts using data in addition to the output of the normal crash sensing accelerometer. Simple radar or acoustic imaging, for example, can be added to current accelerometer based systems to give substantially more information about the crash and the impacting object than possible from the acceleration signal alone.

The side impact anticipatory sensor of this invention can use any of a variety of technologies including optical, radar (including noise radar, Micropower impulse radar, and ultra wideband radar), acoustical, infrared or a combination of these. The sensor system typically contains a neural network processor to make the discrimination however a simulated neural network, a fuzzy logic or other algorithm operating on a microprocessor can also be used.

Davis in European Patent Publication No. EP0210079 describes, inter alia, a radar system for use in connection with an airbag deployment apparatus to prevent injury to passengers when impact with an approaching object is imminent. Voltage level inputs representative of the distance between an object and the vehicle, the approach rate of the object with respect to the vehicle, the vehicle speed and driving monitor inputs, e.g., steering angles, turning rates and acceleration/deceleration, are all generated by appropriate detectors, weighted according to their importance to a normal vehicle operators' sensed safe or danger levels and then the weighted input voltages are summed to provide an “instantaneous voltage level”. This instantaneous voltage level is compared with a predetermined voltage level and if the instantaneous voltage level falls within a predetermined safe zone, output signals are not produced. On the other hand, if the instantaneous voltage level falls outside of the safe zone, i.e., within a danger zone, then the system can be designed to initiate deployment of the airbag on the additional condition that the vehicle speed is above a predetermined level. For example, the system can be programmed to deploy the airbag when the vehicle speed is between 35 and 204 miles per hour at a time of about 0.2 second prior to impact thereby enabling the airbag sufficient time to fully inflate.

Davis includes a radar system that includes an antenna assembly, a signal-processing unit and an output monitor. Davis relies on a radar signal generated by an antenna in the antenna assembly and which causes a return signal to be produced upon reflection of the radar signal against the approaching object. The return signal is received by a transceiver to be processed further in order to determine the distance between the object and the vehicle and the rate the object is approaching the vehicle. The return signal from the radar signal generated by the antenna is a single pulse, i.e., a single pixel. The elapsed time between the emission of the radar signal by the antenna and the receipt of the return signal by the transceiver determines the distance between the object and the vehicle and based on the elapsed time for a series of radar signals generated at set intervals, it is possible to determine the approach rate of the object relative to the vehicle.

In operation, the approach rate of the object relative to the vehicle, the distance between the object and the vehicle, the vehicle speed as well as other driving parameters are converted to voltage levels. Davis then uses an algorithm to weigh the voltage levels and compare the voltage levels to predetermined conditions for which airbag deployment is desired. If the conditions are satisfied by the results of the algorithm operating on the weighted voltage levels, then the airbag is deployed. In one embodiment, by appropriate manipulation of the voltage levels, false-triggering of the airbag can be prevented for impacts with objects smaller than a motorcycle, i.e., the voltage corresponding to a motorcycle at a certain distance from the vehicle is smaller than the voltage corresponding to a truck, for example at that same distance.

Davis does not attempt to recognize any pattern of reflected waves, i.e., a pattern formed from a plurality of waves received over a set period of time, from many pixels simultaneously (as with light and CCDs, for example) or of the time series of ultrasonic waves. A tree, for example can have a smaller radar reflection (lower voltage in Davis) than a motorcycle but would have a different reflected pattern of waves (as detected in the present invention). Thus, in contrast to the inventions described herein, Davis does not identify the object exterior of the vehicle based on a received pattern of waves unique to that object, i.e., each different object will provide a distinct pattern of reflected or generated waves. The radar system of Davis is incapable of processing a pattern of waves, i.e., a plurality of waves received over a period of time, and based on such pattern, identify the object exterior of the vehicle. Rather, Davis can only differentiate objects based on the intensity of the signal.

International Publication No. WO 86/05149 (Karr et al.) describes a device to protect passengers in case of a frontal or rear collision. The device includes a measurement device mounted in connection with the vehicle to measure the distance or speed of the vehicle in relation to an object moving into the range of the vehicle, e.g., another vehicle or an obstacle. In the event that prescribed values for the distance and/or relative speed are not met or exceeded, i.e., which is representative of a forthcoming crash, a control switch activates the protection and warning system in the vehicle so that by the time the crash occurs, the protection and warning system has developed its full protective effect. Karr et al. is limited to frontal crashes and rear crashes and does not appear to even remotely relate to side impacts. Thus, Karr et al. only shows the broad concept of anticipatory sensing in conjunction with frontal and rear crashes.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,388 (Warner et al.) relates to an inflatable system for side impact crash protection. The system includes a folded, inflatable airbag mounted within a door of the vehicle, an impact sensor also mounted within the door and an inflator coupled to the impact sensor and in flow communication with the airbag so that upon activation of the inflator by the impact sensor during a crash, the airbag is inflated.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,584 (Arai) shows a pressurized air container and two air lines leading to a protective air bag. An air line passes through a first valve which is controlled by an anticipatory sensor and the other air line passes through a second valve controlled by an impact detector. The purpose of having two sensors associated with different valves is to ensure that the protective bag will inflate even if one of the crash sensors does not operate properly.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,710 (Okubo) shows an airbag inflation system with a single airbag which is partially inflated based on a signal from an obstacle detecting sensor and then fully inflated based on a signal from an impact detecting sensor. The obstacle detecting sensor controls release of gas from a first gas supply source into the gas bag whereas the impact detecting sensor controls release of gas from a second gas supply source into the gas bag. The first gas supply source includes a first gas container filled with a proper volume of gas for inflating the gas bag to a semi-expanded condition, a first valve mechanism, a pipe between the first gas container and the first valve mechanism and a pipe between the first valve mechanism and the gas bag. The second gas supply source includes a second gas container filled with gas in a volume supplementing the volume of gas in the first gas container so that the contents of both gas containers will fully inflate the gas bag, a second valve mechanism, a pipe between the second gas container and the second valve mechanism and a pipe between the first valve mechanism and the gas bag.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,695 (Abe et al.) shows an inflating arrangement including two inertia-responsive switches and coupled gas-generators. The gas-generators are triggered by the switches to inflate an airbag. The switches are both crash sensors and measured acceleration produced during the collision, and thus are not anticipatory sensors. The purpose of the two switches operative to trigger respective gas-generators is to enable the airbag to be inflated to different degrees. For example, if the crash involving the vehicle is a low speed crash, then only switch is actuated and gas-generated is triggered and the airbag will be inflated to part of its full capacity.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,246 (Scholz et al.), there are two accelerometers, each of which provides a signal when the value of the increase in deceleration exceeds a respective threshold value. The signal from the accelerometer is set to a first ignition stage and through a delay member to a second ignition stage. The second ignition stage also receives as input, a signal from the accelerometer and provides an inflation signal only when it receives a signal from both accelerometers. In operation, when the accelerometer sends a signal it serves to partially inflate the airbag while full inflation of the airbag is obtained only by input from both accelerometers.

Taniguchi (JP 4-293641) describes an apparatus for detecting a body moving around another body, such as to detect a car thief moving around a car. The apparatus includes a detection section supported on a support toll to the roof of the car. Taniguchi states that the detection section may be based on an infrared, microwave or ultrasonic sensor.

4.2 Exterior Airbags

Externally deployed airbags have been suggested by Carl Clark and William Young in SAE paper “941051 Airbag Bumpers”, 1994 Society of Automotive Engineers. Clark and Young demonstrated the concept of pre-inflating the airbag for frontal impacts but did not provide a method of determining when to inflate the airbag. The sensing problem was left to others to solve.

4.3 Pedestrian Protection

Although numerous patents have now appeared that discuss using an external airbag for the protection of pedestrians, little if any prior art exists on using anticipatory sensing for the detection of a pedestrian and for the pre-inflating of the pedestrian protection exterior airbag.

5. Agricultural Product Distribution Machines

The following description, and similar descriptions elsewhere in this disclosure, of agricultural product distribution machines is adapted from U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,938.

Agricultural machines used for applying product over a field will be referred to herein as agricultural product distribution machines and include such machines as seeders, fertilizers, planters, sprayers, and the like. Such machines attempt to apply the product to be distributed evenly across an entire field. With a fertilizer-distributing machine, for example, it is important that each area of the field receive the required amount of fertilizer as accurately as possible. The practice of averaging product requirements for an entire field without paying close attention to the evenness with which the product is distributed is common. However, averaging product requirements may result in over-fertilizing some areas of the field and under-fertilizing others. Sophisticated systems, such as supplied by Beeline of Australia, exist based on accurate mapping and differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPS) that permit the intentional uneven distribution of such products based on the measured needs of each area of the field but are beyond the scope of this invention. The goal of this invention is to apply an even distribution of product without taking into consideration the variation in needs from one area to another.

Even without a DGPS based system, technological advances now enable farmers to obtain greater accuracy in product application. For example, yield monitors used in association with a combine measure the amount of grain being harvested as the grain is sent to a bin in the combine. The actual yield of the best and poorest areas can be observed on the monitor. In addition, GPS can provide information as to the approximate position of the machinery in the field. Yield monitors combined with a GPS receiver, are used to plot yield maps and identify reasons why certain significantly sized areas have low or high yields, which may be related to nutrient differences. With this information, farmers can then determine whether a certain part of the field might need more fertilizer, less fertilizer or should be treated with a different farming method. Farmers can then apply fertilizer, herbicides and seed at the rate needed for a particular soil site. The DGPS system as manufactured by Beeline permits this process to take place much more accurately and for much smaller areas.

Variable rate product delivery systems have been developed to allow operators of agricultural product distribution machines to vary the application rate of the product. Several manufacturers of agricultural equipment offer variable rate drive mechanisms on their machines. One variable rate hydraulic drive control, described in Canadian patent application No. 2,221,403, assigned to Flex-Coil Ltd., of California, essentially consists of an electric motor that provides a rotational drive rate to a hydraulic motor which controls a product metering mechanism. The electric motor input varies with ground speed, thus providing a consistent rate of metering product onto the field based on the accuracy of the ground speed sensor. If the wheels of the tractor slip at a particular area in the field and this is not detected, too much product will be metered onto that area of the field.

A typical agricultural seeder includes a product bin and a product distribution system. The product distribution system generally includes a series of hoses and a manifold. Product is dispensed from the bin into the distribution system through a dispensing mechanism, such as a metering wheel, at a rate related to the desired application rate of the product onto the field. The dispensing mechanism is typically driven by a variable rate drive system. Again, the accuracy of seed distribution is based on the accuracy of the ground speed sensor.

All of the above prior art systems have a product dispensing rate related to the ground speed or forward speed of the agricultural product distribution machine. As the agricultural product distribution machine travels across the field, a sensor system detects the ground speed. The variable rate drive mechanism drives the dispensing mechanism accordingly. As the ground speed varies, the dispensing rate varies to maintain a consistent (constant) distribution of product.

5.1 Doppler Vehicle Ground Speed Sensors

The following background, plus other general descriptions below, on vehicle speed sensors was adapted from U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,107.

To eliminate errors caused by wheel slip, for example, a common method of measuring vehicle speed relative to the ground uses Doppler principles. Such a sensor system emits ultrasonic or electromagnetic waves from the vehicle toward the ground at a specified beam angle θ and receives waves that have been reflected from the ground. The difference in frequency Δf between the transmitted and received waves, the Doppler shift, is calculated to give the vehicle velocity V relative to the ground. V=CΔf/(2f cos(θ))  (1)

where C is wave propagation velocity in the medium.

This prior art vehicle speed determination system, however, suffers from the problem that when the speed of a vehicle is sensed by the Doppler sensor mounted on the vehicle body, vehicle pitching motion, for example, changes the wave transmission angle θ decreasing the sensing accuracy. Therefore, as pointed out in the '107 patent, a measure of at least the pitching angle is desirable. This is solved by the '107 patent through the use of an angular rate sensor or gyroscope. However, such a sensor only works to compensate for vehicle pitch. When the velocity sensor is mounted high on the vehicle, where it is protected from contamination, it will frequently receive reflections from the ground that are at a significant distance from the vehicle and can therefore be at a significantly different altitude and thus at a significantly different effective θ thus adding additional errors to the calculation.

The problem is exacerbated in the construction industry when the Doppler sensor is mounted at a level low on the vehicle such that there is a strong likelihood that mud may stick to the sensor or the sensor may get damaged by striking rocks etc. Thus, such sensors should be mounted high on the vehicle where the ground that reflects the waves can be at a significantly different altitude from the vehicle that may be bulldozing the field, for example. However, if these problems are solved by mounting a Doppler radar-based velocity sensor high on the vehicle, there can be a problem where the RF radiation exceeds permitted levels or interfere with similar systems on other vehicles at the same worksite. Also, laser radar-based systems are to be avoided due to the difficulty of keeping the lens of such laser radar-based systems clean.

5.2 Pulsed Ultrasonic Vehicle Speed Sensors

Thus, the ground speed sensors used for agricultural and construction equipment control systems include Doppler radar, Doppler laser radar, Doppler ultrasonic and wheel speed sensors. As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,558, such sensor systems can also be degraded, depending on the particular technology used and the mounting location on the vehicle, by sensor crosstalk, vehicle vibration, temperature effects, sensing time at low speeds, blowing grass, wheel slippage and other factors that are eliminated or minimized by the teachings of this invention. Although the '558 patent attempts to solve some of these problems, its main contribution is the use of an ultrasonic transducer in the pulse mode. However, this is done to reduce system cost and it is not used to determine the distance to the reflecting surface.

5.3 Other Relevant Related Art Vehicle Ground Speed Sensors

U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,665 describes an ultrasonic ground speed sensor that eliminates cross talk between a transmitting and receiving transducer. This problem is solved herein when ultrasonic sensors are used by using a single sensor for both transmitting and receiving and controlling the ringing of the transducer as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,731,569.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,954 describes an ultrasonic sensor that operates in the continuous mode and uses the Doppler frequency shift for determining vehicle velocity. No attempt is made to compensate for vehicle pitch or for changes in ground elevation.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,765 uses a single transducer for both transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves and operates in the pulse mode. Velocity is measured by the Doppler frequency shift and no attempt is made to compensate for vehicle pitching. The sensor is mounted low on the tractor where it can be subjected to contamination and thus must be periodically cleaned when operated in many common environments. A temperature sensor is provided to measure the air temperature and thus to compensate for the variation in the speed of sound with temperature.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,003 describes a continuous ultrasonic Doppler velocity sensor optimized for a vehicle traveling on a road by transmitting a particular wavelength. No attempt is made to measure the distance to the road surface and to compensate for vehicle pitching.

In the above-mentioned prior art, the sensor is not mounted high on the vehicle where it is protected from contamination and where the effective angle between the sensing beam and the ground is determined by measuring the distance from the sensor to the reflection point on the ground thereby permitting compensation for both pitch and ground slope and altitude variation. Since this angle is a critical factor in the Doppler velocity equation, all prior art systems will suffer from this inaccuracy.

The present invention solves this problem by measuring the distance to the ground using either a time of flight measurement or a phase measurement system as described below. By practicing this invention, therefore, the accuracy with which agricultural product, for example, can be distributed is significantly enhanced thereby reducing the total product used, increasing the crop yield and yielding many other advantages. These advantages flow from an improved accuracy in the vehicle ground speed without going to the expense of installing a DGPS such as based on the Beeline system. Thus, many advantages of the Beeline system are achieved at much lower cost.

Although the above-described system leads to the lowest cost series of solutions to the ground speed determination, and the Beeline the highest cost, there is also an intermediate solution that will now be described.

The Beeline solution requires that a differential GPS (DGPS) correction signal be available to the vehicle system such that the vehicle can determine its position, and hence its velocity, to within a few centimeters or centimeters per second. The system uses a GPS receiver, a DGPS receiver and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that contains three gyroscopes and three accelerometers. If only a precise velocity is required, then the GPS signals can be used in a differential mode without differential corrections since the errors in the GPS signals change slowly with time. Thus, using conventional GPS, the change in the position of the vehicle can be known almost as accurately as with the Beeline system at a fraction of the cost.

Similarly, for position and velocity determination in between the GPS signal receptions (once per second) instead of using an IMU, a single accelerometer can be used, greatly simplifying the inertial hardware and software. A Kalman filter can still be used to calibrate the accelerometer every second and the resulting linear velocity is now known almost as accurately as the Beeline system without the need for DGPS subscription costs and at a hardware and software cost that is a small fraction of the Beeline system.

The system can be upgraded by adding more inertial devices (accelerometers and gyroscopes) and the vehicle system can become its own DGPS station if precisely surveyed reference locations are known on the field. Such locations can be magnetic markers that permit the vehicle to exactly know its position whenever it passes over the marker. Other methods of periodic precise positioning are also applicable as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/190,805 filed Jul. 8, 2002.

6. Distance Measurement

As discussed above, regardless of the distance measurement system used, a trained pattern recognition system, as defined below, can be used to identify and classify, and in some cases to locate, the illuminated object. Distance measurements by a variety of techniques can be used to determine the distance from the sensor to an object in the monitored area. They can also determine the distance to the ground for agricultural applications, for example, and provide correction information of the effective angle of transmission as will be discussed below.

The use of passive optical camera systems, such as the HDRC camera, has been discussed and the method of using either neural networks, optical correlation, or other pattern recognition systems has also been and will be discussed that illustrates how, in the present invention, the identity of the object occupying the area of interest will be determined. What follows now is a more detailed discussion of position determination.

For a preferred implementation of the system, the light from laser diodes will cross the field of view of the camera. If there is a heavy fog, for example, in the monitored area, then the reflection of the light off of the fog will create an elliptical image on the camera sensor array. This would also be true when heavy rain, smoke or heavy snowfall is present. This fact can be used to determine visibility. Observations of visibility conditions of objects in the area surrounding the vehicle even during severe weather conditions has led the inventors of this invention to the conclusion that when the visibility is so poor that the optical system using laser diodes described herein, for example, is not functioning with sufficient accuracy, that the operator of the vehicle should not be operating the vehicle on the roads and therefore the vehicle operator should be informed that safe travel is not possible. Thus, the use of radar or other technologies to view the blind spot, for example, which is actually quite close to the vehicle, is not necessary since vehicle operation should not be permitted when the visibility is so poor that the object cannot be seen in the blind spot, for example, by the systems of this invention. Nevertheless, the inventions herein can contribute to safe driving in these conditions, if such driving is attempted, since an indication will be obtained by the system based on the elliptical reflections from the laser diode indicating that the visibility is unacceptable. Note that when using a scanning IR laser radar system, the range of view of the system greatly exceeds that of the human operator especially when range gating is used to remove close-up reflections from the atmosphere (rain, snow, fog, smoke etc.)

For the embodiment of the invention using triangulation, it is desirable for the laser diodes, scanning laser diode or other light source to be displaced as far as reasonably possible from the camera in order to permit the maximum accuracy for the triangulation calculations. In an automobile, as much as six inches exists from one side of the exterior rear view mirror to the other side. This is marginal. For large trucks, the vertical distance separating the top and bottom of the rear housing can be as much as 24 inches. In both cases, the laser diode would be placed at one extreme and the camera at the other extreme of the mirror housing. An alternate approach is to place the camera on the mirror housing but to place the light source on the vehicle side. Alternately, both the camera and the light source can be placed at appropriate positions on the side of the vehicle. The key is that the direction of the light source should cross field of view of the camera at preferably a 10 degree angle or more.

Since the dots or a line created by a light source used to monitor the area of interest will likely be in the infrared spectrum and the majority of the light coming from objects in the monitored area will be in the visible spectrum, the possibility exists to separate them through the use of an infrared filter which will allow more accurately the determination of the location of the reflection from the laser diode onto the optical array. Such filters can be done either mathematically or through the imposition of a physical filter. However, this approach can require a mechanical mechanism to move the filter in and out of the camera field of view if visible light reception is also desired. Alternately, to eliminate the need to move the filter, a pin diode or equivalent dedicated receiver can be used to receive the reflected infrared light. Of course, multiple imagers can also be used, one for infrared and another for visible.

7. Definitions

Preferred embodiments of the invention are described below and unless specifically noted, it is the applicants' intention that the words and phrases in the specification and claims be given the ordinary and accustomed meaning to those of ordinary skill in the applicable art(s). If the applicants intend any other meaning, they will specifically state they are applying a special meaning to a word or phrase.

Likewise, applicants' use of the word “function” here is not intended to indicate that the applicants seek to invoke the special provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, to define their invention. To the contrary, if applicants wish to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, to define their invention, they will specifically set forth in the claims the phrases “means for” or “step for” and a function, without also reciting in that phrase any structure, material or act in support of the function. Moreover, even if applicants invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, to define their invention, it is the applicants' intention that their inventions not be limited to the specific structure, material or acts that are described in the preferred embodiments herein. Rather, if applicants claim their inventions by specifically invoking the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, it is nonetheless their intention to cover and include any and all structure, materials or acts that perform the claimed function, along with any and all known or later developed equivalent structures, materials or acts for performing the claimed function.

Pattern recognition is commonly used in practicing the instant invention. “Pattern recognition” as used herein will generally mean any system which processes a signal that is generated by an object (e.g., representative of a pattern of returned or received impulses, waves or other physical property specific to and/or characteristic of and/or representative of that object) or is modified by interacting with an object, in order to determine to which one of a set of classes that the object belongs. Such a system might determine only that the object is or is not a member of one specified class, or it might attempt to assign the object to one of a larger set of specified classes, or find that it is not a member of any of the classes in the set. The signals processed are generally a series of electrical signals coming from transducers that are sensitive to acoustic (ultrasonic) or electromagnetic radiation (e.g., visible light, infrared radiation, capacitance or electric and/or magnetic fields), although other sources of information are frequently included. Pattern recognition systems generally involve the creation of a set of rules that permit the pattern to be recognized. These rules can be created by fuzzy logic systems, statistical correlations, or through sensor fusion methodologies as well as by trained pattern recognition systems such as neural networks, combination neural networks, cellular neural networks or support vector machines.

A trainable or a trained pattern recognition system as used herein generally means a pattern recognition system that is taught to recognize various patterns constituted within the signals by subjecting the system to a variety of examples. One highly successful system is the neural network used either singly or as a combination of neural networks. Thus, to generate the pattern recognition algorithm, test data is first obtained which constitutes a plurality of sets of returned waves, or wave patterns, or other information radiated or obtained from an object (or from the space in which the object will be situated in the passenger compartment, i.e., the space above the seat) and an indication of the identify of that object. A number of different objects are tested to obtain the unique patterns from each object. As such, the algorithm is generated, and stored in a computer processor, and which can later be applied to provide the identity of an object based on the wave pattern being received during use by a receiver connected to the processor and other information. For the purposes here, the identity of an object sometimes applies to not only the object itself but also to its location and/or orientation in the passenger compartment. For example, a rear facing child seat is a different object than a forward facing child seat and an out-of-position adult can be a different object than a normally seated adult. Not all pattern recognition systems are trained systems and not all trained systems are neural networks. Other pattern recognition systems are based on fuzzy logic, sensor fusion, Kalman filters, correlation as well as linear and non-linear regression. Still other pattern recognition systems are hybrids of more than one system such as neural-fuzzy systems.

The use of pattern recognition, or more particularly how it is used, is important to many embodiments of the instant inventions. In the above-cited prior art, except that assigned to the current assignee, pattern recognition which is based on training, as exemplified through the use of neural networks, is not mentioned for use in monitoring the interior passenger compartment or exterior environments of the vehicle in all of the aspects of the invention disclosed herein. Thus, the methods used to adapt such systems to a vehicle are also not mentioned.

A pattern recognition algorithm will thus generally mean an algorithm applying or obtained using any type of pattern recognition system, e.g., a neural network, sensor fusion, fuzzy logic, etc.

To “identify” as used herein will generally mean to determine that the object belongs to a particular set or class. The class may be one containing, for example, all rear facing child seats, one containing all human occupants, or all human occupants not sitting in a rear facing child seat, or all humans in a certain height or weight range depending on the purpose of the system. In the case where a particular person is to be recognized, the set or class will contain only a single element, i.e., the person to be recognized. When applied to external monitoring the class may be all trucks, all trucks in a certain weight or size range and similarly for automobiles, all guard rails, all energy absorbing crash cushions, all pedestrians etc.

To “ascertain the identity of” as used herein with reference to an object will generally mean to determine the type or nature of the object (obtain information as to what the object is), i.e., that the object is an adult, an occupied rear facing child seat, an occupied front facing child seat, an unoccupied rear facing child seat, an unoccupied front facing child seat, a child, a dog, a bag of groceries, a car, a truck, a tree, a pedestrian, a deer etc.

An “object” in a vehicle or an “occupying item” of a seat may be a living occupant such as a human or a dog, another living organism such as a plant, or an inanimate object such as a box or bag of groceries or an empty child seat. An “occupying item” of a blind spot may be an automobile, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, animal, guard rail, tree, utility pole, as well as many other objects.

A “rear seat” of a vehicle as used herein will generally mean any seat behind the front seat on which a driver sits. Thus, in minivans or other large vehicles where there are more than two rows of seats, each row of seats behind the driver is considered a rear seat and thus there may be more than one “rear seat” in such vehicles. The space behind the front seat includes any number of such rear seats as well as any trunk spaces or other rear areas such as are present in station wagons.

An “optical image” will generally mean any type of image obtained using electromagnetic radiation including X-ray, ultraviolet, visual, infrared, terahertz and radar radiation.

In the description herein on anticipatory sensing, the term “approaching” when used in connection with the mention of an object or vehicle approaching another will usually mean the relative motion of the object toward the vehicle having the anticipatory sensor system. Thus, in a side impact with a tree, the tree will be considered as approaching the side of the vehicle and impacting the vehicle. In other words, the coordinate system used in general will be a coordinate system residing in the target vehicle. The “target” vehicle is the vehicle that is being impacted. This convention permits a general description to cover all of the cases such as where (i) a moving vehicle impacts into the side of a stationary vehicle, (ii) where both vehicles are moving when they impact, or (iii) where a vehicle is moving sideways into a stationary vehicle, tree or wall.

An “electronic shutter” or “light valve” as used herein will mean any method of controlling the amount of light, or other electromagnetic energy, that can pass through the device based on an electronic signal control of the device.

“Vehicle” as used herein includes any container that is movable either under its own power or using power from another vehicle. It includes, but is not limited to, automobiles, trucks, railroad cars, ships, airplanes, trailers, shipping containers, barges, etc. The term “container” will frequently be used interchangeably with vehicle however a container will generally mean that part of a vehicle that separate from and in some cases may exist separately and away from the source of motive power. Thus, a shipping container may exist in a shipping yard and a trailer may be parked in a parking lot without the tractor. The passenger compartment or a trunk of an automobile, on the other hand, are compartments of a container that generally only exists attaches to the vehicle chassis that also has an associated engine for moving the vehicle. Note, a container can have one or a plurality of compartments.

“Out-of-position” as used for an occupant will generally mean that the occupant, either the driver or a passenger, is sufficiently close to an occupant protection apparatus (airbag) prior to deployment that he or she is likely to be more seriously injured by the deployment event itself than by the accident. It may also mean that the occupant is not positioned appropriately in order to attain the beneficial, restraining effects of the deployment of the airbag. As for the occupant being too close to the airbag, this typically occurs when the occupant's head or chest is closer than some distance, such as about 5 inches, from the deployment door of the airbag module. The actual distance where airbag deployment should be suppressed depends on the design of the airbag module and is typically farther for the passenger airbag than for the driver airbag.

“Transducer” or “transceiver” as used herein will generally mean the combination of a transmitter and a receiver. In come cases, the same device will serve both as the transmitter and receiver while in others two separate devices adjacent to each other will be used. In some cases, a transmitter is not used and in such cases transducer will mean only a receiver. Transducers include, for example, capacitive, inductive, ultrasonic, electromagnetic (antenna, CCD, CMOS arrays), electric field, weight measuring or sensing devices. In some cases, a transducer will be a single pixel either acting alone, in a linear or an array of some other appropriate shape. In some cases, a transducer may comprise two parts such as the plates of a capacitor or the antennas of an electric field sensor. Sometimes, one antenna or plate will communicate with several other antennas or plates and thus for the purposes herein, a transducer will be broadly defined to refer, in most cases, to any one of the plates of a capacitor or antennas of a field sensor and in some other cases, a pair of such plates or antennas will comprise a transducer as determined by the context in which the term is used.

“Adaptation” as used here will generally represent the method by which a particular occupant or object sensing system is designed and arranged for a particular vehicle model. It includes such things as the process by which the number, kind and location of various transducers are determined. For pattern recognition systems, it includes the process by which the pattern recognition system is designed and then taught or made to recognize the desired patterns. In this connection, it will usually include (1) the method of training when training is used, (2) the makeup of the databases used, testing and validating the particular system, or, in the case of a neural network, the particular network architecture chosen, (3) the process by which environmental influences are incorporated into the system, and (4) any process for determining the pre-processing of the data or the post processing of the results of the pattern recognition system. The above list is illustrative and not exhaustive. Basically, adaptation includes all of the steps that are undertaken to adapt transducers and other sources of information to a particular vehicle to create the system that accurately identifies and/or determines the location of an occupant or other object in a vehicle or in the area outside but within view of the vehicle.

For the purposes herein, a “neural network” is defined to include all such learning systems including cellular neural networks, support vector machines and other kernel-based learning systems and methods, cellular automata and all other pattern recognition methods and systems that learn. A “combination neural network” as used herein will generally apply to any combination of two or more neural networks as most broadly defined that are either connected together or that analyze all or a portion of the input data. “Neural network” can also be defined as a system wherein the data to be processed is separated into discrete values which are then operated on and combined in at least a two-stage process and where the operation performed on the data at each stage is in general different for each of the discrete values and where the operation performed is at least determined through a training process. The operation performed is typically a multiplication by a particular coefficient or weight and by different operation, therefore is meant in this example, that a different weight is used for each discrete value.

A “wave sensor” or “wave transducer” is generally any device which senses either ultrasonic or electromagnetic waves. An electromagnetic wave sensor, for example, includes devices that sense any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum from ultraviolet down to a few hertz. Commonly used electromagnetic wave sensors include CCD and CMOS arrays for sensing visible and/or infrared waves, millimeter wave and microwave radar, and capacitive or electric and/or magnetic field monitoring sensors that rely on the dielectric constant of the object occupying a space but also rely on the time variation of the field, expressed by waves as defined below, to determine a change in state.

A “CCD” will be generally defined to include all devices, including CMOS arrays, APS arrays, focal plane arrays, QWIP arrays or equivalent, artificial retinas and particularly HDRC arrays, which are capable of converting light frequencies, including infrared, visible and ultraviolet, into electrical signals. The particular CCD array used for many of the applications disclosed herein is implemented on a single chip that is less than two centimeters on a side. Data from the CCD array is digitized and sent serially to an electronic circuit containing a microprocessor for analysis of the digitized data. In order to minimize the amount of data that needs to be stored, initial processing of the image data takes place as it is being received from the CCD array, as discussed in more detail elsewhere herein. In some cases, some image processing can take place on the chip such as described in the Kage et al. artificial retina article referenced above.

A “sensor” as used herein can be a single receiver or the combination of two transducers (a transmitter and a receiver) or one transducer which can both transmit and receive.

An “occupant protection apparatus” is any device, apparatus, system or component which is actuatable or deployable or includes a component which is actuatable or deployable for the purpose of attempting to reduce injury to the occupant in the event of a crash, rollover or other potential injurious event involving a vehicle

As used herein, a diagnosis of the “state of the vehicle” generally means a diagnosis of the condition of the vehicle with respect to its stability and proper running and operating condition. Thus, the state of the vehicle could be normal when the vehicle is operating properly on a highway or abnormal when, for example, the vehicle is experiencing excessive angular inclination (e.g., two wheels are off the ground and the vehicle is about to rollover), the vehicle is experiencing a crash, the vehicle is skidding, and other similar situations. A diagnosis of the state of the vehicle could also be an indication that one of the parts of the vehicle, e.g., a component, system or subsystem, is operating abnormally.

As used herein, an “occupant restraint device” generally includes any type of device which is deployable in the event of a crash involving the vehicle for the purpose of protecting an occupant from the effects of the crash and/or minimizing the potential injury to the occupant. Occupant restraint devices thus include frontal airbags, side airbags, seatbelt tensioners, knee bolsters, side curtain airbags, externally deployable airbags and the like.

As used herein, a “part” of the vehicle generally includes any component, sensor, system or subsystem of the vehicle such as the steering system, braking system, throttle system, navigation system, airbag system, seatbelt retractor, air bag inflation valve, air bag inflation controller and airbag vent valve, as well as those listed below in the definitions of “component” and “sensor”.

As used herein, a “sensor system” generally includes any of the sensors listed in the definition of “sensor” as well as any type of component or assembly of components which detect, sense or measure something.

The term “gage” or “gauge” is used herein interchangeably with the terms “sensor” and “sensing device”.

A “blind spot”, for the purposes of this invention, will include those areas surrounding a vehicle that could contain an object that may not easily be seen by the driver through the various rear view mirrors but which could pose a threat either to the vehicle occupants or to the occupants of the object, or other others such as pedestrians, in the blind spot.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved airbag module including an airbag deployable external to the vehicle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved airbag module in which an externally deployable airbag is deployed based on data received by an anticipatory sensor system.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a new and improved arrangement and method for deploying an external airbag in which an anticipatory sensor is used to determine an impending crash and initiate deployment of the airbag to counter the force of the colliding object.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention comprises an anticipatory crash sensor arrangement which provides information about an object such as a vehicle about to impact the resident vehicle, i.e., the vehicle in which the anticipatory crash sensor arrangement is situated, and causes inflation of one or more airbags, specifically, one or more airbags arranged to deploy outside of the vehicle

One particular embodiment of the invention comprises an anticipatory sensor system which uses (i) a source of radiant energy either originating from or reflected off of an object or vehicle which is about to impact the side of a target vehicle, plus (ii) pattern recognition systems to analyze the radiant energy coming from the soon-to-be impacting object or vehicle to (iii) assess the probable severity of a pending accident and (iv) if appropriate, inflate one or more airbags prior to the impact. Inflation of the airbag(s) preferably enables displacement of the occupant away from the path of the impacting object or vehicle to create space required to cushion the occupant from an impact with the vehicle interior. Instead of or in addition to inflation of an airbag in the interior of the vehicle, an airbag may be inflated exterior of the vehicle to resist the force of the colliding object and thereby reduce the severity of the collision.

Although a primary area of application of some embodiments of this invention is for protection in side impacts, embodiments of the invention also provide added protection in frontal impacts by reducing the incidence of injury to out-of-position occupants by permitting a slower inflation of the airbag and displacing the occupant away from the airbag prior to the impact. Additionally, embodiments of the invention can provide added protection in rear impacts by reducing the incidence of injury caused by impacts of the occupants head with the headrest by prepositioning the headrest adjacent the head of the occupant based on an anticipatory rear impact sensor.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a vehicle comprises one or more inflatable airbags deployable outside of the vehicle, an anticipatory sensor system for assessing the probable severity of an impact involving the vehicle based on data obtained prior to the impact and initiating inflation of the airbag(s) in the event an impact above a threshold severity is assessed, and an inflator coupled to the anticipatory sensor system and the airbag for inflating the airbag when initiated by the anticipatory sensor system.

The airbag may be housed in a module mounted along a side of the vehicle, in a side door of the vehicle, at a front of the vehicle or at a rear of the vehicle. An airbag can be arranged at each of these locations and a determination made as to which airbag should be deployed to engage the impacting object, and only the selected airbag(s) deployed.

The anticipatory sensor system may comprise at least one receiver for receiving waves or energy and a pattern recognition system, e.g., data storage medium embodying a pattern recognition algorithm or neural network, for analyzing the received waves or energy or data representative of the received waves or energy to assess the probable severity of the impact. The pattern recognition system may also be designed to identify an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted or generated, in which case, the assessment of the probable severity of the impact is at least partially based on the identification of the object. The pattern recognition system can also be designed to determine at least one property of an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted or generated, in which case, the assessment of the probable severity of the impact is at least partially based on the determined at least one property of the object.

The invention is also applicable for pedestrian protection in the event of a crash and for this purpose, the anticipatory sensor system may be designed to assess the probable severity of an impact between a pedestrian and the vehicle based on data obtained prior to the impact. One or more airbags would be deployed to cushion impact of the pedestrian against the vehicle. In this regard, if several externally deployable airbags are provided on the vehicle, the anticipatory sensor system can be designed to determine which airbag(s) is to be deployed to provide for protection of any occupants of the vehicle and operationally deploy the airbag(s).

Another crash sensor arrangement is preferably also resident on the vehicle and provides information about the impact which may be used to adjust the pressure in a deploying airbag based on the information about the impact, if any such adjustment is determined to be required. Adjustment of the pressure may entail increasing the pressure in the airbag by, directing additional gas into the airbag(s), or releasing a control amount and/or flow of gas from the airbag(s).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings are illustrative of embodiments of the invention and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention as encompassed by the claims.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automobile showing a preferred mounting location for the optical blind spot detection system in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vehicle of FIG. 1 shown operating on a highway.

FIG. 3A is a detailed view of an automobile mirror assembly showing the location of a LED array or a scanning laser and the CMOS camera.

FIG. 3B is a detailed view of a truck mirror assembly showing the location of a LED array or a scanning laser and the CMOS camera.

FIG. 4 is an overhead view of an alternate blind spot monitoring system where the light source and camera are not collocated.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 however showing the pattern of laser diode illumination projected from a vehicle mirror preferred installation.

FIG. 6A is a top view of a large truck vehicle showing the coverage of a side blind spot area.

FIG. 6B is a side view of the large truck vehicle of FIG. 6A showing the coverage of a side blind spot area.

FIG. 6C is a side view of the large truck vehicle of FIG. 6A showing the coverage of a side blind spot area using multiple cameras along the side of the vehicle.

FIG. 7A is a top view illustrating the coverage of the forward right hand side of a truck vehicle blind spot.

FIG. 7B is a side view illustrating the coverage of the forward right hand side of a truck vehicle blind spot.

FIG. 8A is a side view illustrating the application to a bus for monitoring the space in front of the bus.

FIG. 8B is a front view illustrating the application to a bus for monitoring the space in front of the bus.

FIG. 9 is a top view of a system applied to monitor the rear of the truck trailer to protect for backup accidents.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating the blind spot detector, steering control, display and warning system.

FIG. 11 shows an icon display for the instrument panel and an alternate heads up display indicating the position of the host vehicle and the positions of surrounding potentially threatening vehicles as seen from above.

FIG. 12 is an illustration similar to FIG. 11 showing the projection of the images onto a heads-up display.

FIG. 13A illustrates a view of the image as seen by a side rear view camera of FIG. 1.

FIG. 13B illustrates a view of the image of FIG. 13A after a stage of image processing.

FIG. 13C illustrates a view of the image as FIG. 13B after the vehicle has been abstracted.

FIG. 14 illustrates a lane change problem in congested traffic.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a vehicle about to impact the side of another vehicle showing the location of the various parts of the anticipatory sensor system of this invention.

FIG. 15A is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 15.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for the lane change problem.

FIG. 17 is an overhead view of a vehicle about to be impacted in the front by an approaching vehicle showing a wave transmitter part of the anticipatory sensor system.

FIG. 18A a plan front view of the front of a car showing the headlights, radiator grill, bumper, fenders, windshield, roof and hood.

FIG. 18B a plan front view of the front of a truck showing the headlights, radiator grill, bumper, fenders, windshield, roof and hood.

FIG. 19 is an overhead view of a vehicle about to be impacted in the side by an approaching vehicle showing an infrared radiation emanating from the front of the striking vehicle and an infrared receiver part of the anticipatory sensor system.

FIG. 20 is a side view with portions cutaway and removed of a dual inflator airbag system with two airbags with one airbag lying inside the other.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of a seatbelt mechanism illustrating a device to release a controlled amount of slack into seatbelt allowing an occupant to be displaced.

FIG. 22 is a front view of an occupant being restrained by a seatbelt having two anchorage points on the driver's right side where the one is released allowing the occupant to be laterally displaced during the crash.

FIG. 22A is an expanded view of the release mechanism within the circle designated 22A in FIG. 22.

FIG. 22B is a view of the apparatus of FIG. 22A within the circle designated 22B and rotated 90 degrees showing the release mechanism.

FIG. 23 is a front view of an occupant being restrained by a seatbelt integral with seat so that when seat moves during a crash with the occupant, the belt also moves allowing the occupant to be laterally displaced during the crash.

FIG. 24A is a front view of an occupant being restrained by a seatbelt and a linear airbag module attached to the seat back to protect entire occupant from his pelvis to his head.

FIG. 24B is a view of the system of FIG. 24A showing the airbag in the inflated condition.

FIG. 25A is a front view of an occupant being restrained by a seatbelt and where the seat is displaced toward vehicle center by the deploying airbag in conjunction with other apparatus.

FIG. 25B is a front view of an occupant being restrained by a seatbelt and where the seat is rotated about a vertical axis in conjunction with other apparatus.

FIG. 25C is a front view of an occupant being restrained by a seatbelt and where the seat is rotated about a longitudinal axis in conjunction with other apparatus.

FIG. 26A is a perspective view with portions cutaway and removed of a vehicle about to impact the side of another vehicle showing an airbag stored within the side door of the target vehicle prior to being released to cushion the impact of the two vehicles.

FIG. 26B is a view of the apparatus of FIG. 26A after the airbag has deployed.

FIG. 27 is a schematic drawing of a variable inflation inflator system in accordance with the invention using two inflators.

FIG. 28 is a schematic drawing of a variable inflation inflator system in accordance with the invention using a single inflator and a variable outflow port or vent.

FIG. 29A shows a situation where a vehicle equipped with an externally deployable airbag for frontal impact protection is about to impact another vehicle.

FIG. 29B shows the condition of the vehicles of FIG. 29A at impact.

FIG. 30A shows a situation where a vehicle equipped with an externally deployable airbag for rear impact protection is about to be impacted by another vehicle.

FIG. 30B shows the condition of the vehicles of FIG. 30A at impact.

FIG. 31A shows a situation where a vehicle equipped with an externally deployable airbag for frontal impact protection is about to impact a pedestrian.

FIG. 31B shows the condition of the vehicle and pedestrian of FIG. 31A at impact.

FIGS. 32A, 32B and 32C show one use of positioning airbags in accordance with the invention wherein a passenger is shown leaning against a door in FIG. 32A, a positioning airbag deploys to move the passenger away from the door as shown in FIG. 32B and a side curtain airbag is deployed when the passenger has been moved away from the door as shown in FIG. 32C.

FIGS. 33A, 33B, 33C and 33D show the manner in which an occupant can be positioned improperly for deployment of a side curtain airbag during a rollover leading to severe injury.

FIGS. 34A, 34B, 34C and 34D show the manner in which an occupant is re-positioned for deployment of a side curtain airbag during a rollover thereby preventing severe injury.

FIG. 35 is a flow chart showing the manner in positioning airbags are used in accordance with the invention. and

FIG. 36 is a schematic of the apparatus for deploying multiple airbags in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 37 is a block diagram of a known agricultural product distribution machine.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram of a control unit, in accordance with an embodiment of the primer system.

FIG. 39 represents a basic air delivery system.

FIG. 40 represents a metering mechanism of the air delivery system in FIG. 39.

FIG. 41 is a block diagram of a primer system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, as it applies to seeders and planters.

FIG. 42 represents a basic sprayer system.

FIG. 43 shows a rearward pointing installation arrangement for a vehicle speed detection system on a bulldozer according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 44A and 44B show the effects of slope and pitch on the ground speed sensor of this invention.

FIG. 45 shows a forward pointing installation arrangement for a vehicle speed detection system on a tractor according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 46 is a block diagram for an ultrasonic distance and speed detector.

FIG. 47 is a schematic of a circuit for use in determining the distance to object.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

1. Exterior Monitoring

1.1 General

Referring now to the drawings wherein the same reference numerals refer to like elements, a perspective semi-transparent view of an automobile is shown generally as 1 in FIG. 1. A driver 2 of the automobile sits on a front seat 4. Five transmitter and/or receiver assemblies 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are positioned at various places with views of the environment surrounding the vehicle. A processor such as control circuitry 12 is connected to the transmitter/receiver assemblies 5-9 by appropriate wires, not shown, or wirelessly and controls the transmission of waves or energy from the transmitter portion of the assemblies 5-9 and captures the return signals received by the receiver portion of the assemblies 5-9. Control circuitry 12 usually contains one or more analog to digital converters (ADCs) or frame grabbers, a microprocessor containing sufficient memory and appropriate software including pattern recognition algorithms, and other appropriate drivers, signal conditioners, signal generators, etc. Usually, in any given implementation, only two to four of the transmitter/receiver assemblies would be used.

These optical, for example, transmitter/receiver assemblies 5-9, also referred to herein as transducer assemblies, are comprised of an optical transmitter or light emitting component, which may be an infrared LED, a high power laser diode forming a spotlight, a laser with a diverging lens, a floodlight or a scanning laser assembly, any of which can be pulsed or modulated, and a receiver such as a CCD or CMOS array or pin diode or equivalent photo detector. If modulation is used, it can be frequency, amplitude or pulse-modulated and the modulation scheme can be sine wave or code and if code, the code can be random or pseudorandom. Preferably, a transmitter/receiver assembly comprises an active pixel CMOS array or an HDRC array as discussed below. The transducer assemblies map the location of the objects and features thereof, in a two and/or three-dimensional image as will also be described in more detail below. In a preferred design, range gating is used to locate objects in the field of view and aid in separating an object of interest from other objects and the background. Range gating is also used to aid in low visibility situations such as in fog, smoke, rain and snow.

The foregoing examples of possible wave/energy/light emitting components and light/wave/energy receiver components are not intended to limit the invention and it should be understood by those skilled in the art that other transmitter and receiver components and combinations can be used in accordance with the invention without deviating from the scope and spirit thereof.

In a preferred embodiment, four transducer assemblies 5-8 are positioned around the exterior of the vehicle in the spaces to be monitored, each comprising one or more LEDs or scanning laser diodes and a CMOS array with a light valve and an appropriate lens. Although illustrated together, the illuminating source will frequently not be co-located with the receiving array particularly when triangulation distance measurement is used, as described in more detail below. The LED, laser or other appropriate source of illumination can emit a controlled angle diverging beam of infrared radiation that illuminates a particular space and illuminates an object at a particular point that depends on the location of the object relative to the vehicle and the direction of the LED or laser beam, for example. In some applications, the beam does not diverge and in others, the beam converges.

The image from each array is used to capture two or three dimensions of object position information, thus, the array of assembly 5, which can be located approximately behind the driver's door on the B-pillar provides both vertical and transverse information on the location of an object in the vicinity of the vehicle. A similar view from a location on the passenger side is obtained from the array of assembly 6. The mounting locations of the assemblies 5, 6 shown in FIG. 1 are exemplary and are not intended to limit the possible positions for placement of the assemblies. Other positions for installation of the assemblies on the sides of the vehicle are contemplated. For example, the assemblies 5, 6 could be placed on the side of the vehicle alongside the passenger compartment, engine compartment or trunk compartment.

If the receiving array of assembly 5 contains a matrix of 100 by 100 pixels, then 10,000 pixels or data elements of information will be created each time the system interrogates the space on the driver side of the vehicle, for example. Interrogation of the space on the driver side of the vehicle would entail commanding the assembly 5 to transmit optical waves or energy into the environment surrounding the vehicle by means of the transmitter component of the assembly 5 and receiving any reflected optical waves or energy by the receiver component of the assembly 5.

There are many pixels of each image that can be eliminated because they do not contain any useful information. This typically includes the corner pixels and other areas where an object cannot be located. This pixel pruning can typically reduce the number of pixels by up to 20 percent resulting in approximately 8,000 remaining pixels, for example. The output from each array is then preferably preprocessed to extract the salient features and fed to an artificial neural network, or other pattern recognition system, to identify the object or ascertain the identity of the object. The preprocessing can include edge detection and a variety of filters such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/025,501 filed Jan. 3, 2005. Range gating also can be used to eliminate reflections from unwanted objects and to reduce the effects of fog, smoke, rain and snow, for example, as described below.

The preprocessing step frequently makes use of distance or relative motion information to separate one object from another and from other parts of the captured scene. Once this operation is completed for all of the object images, the identification of the objects in the space proximate to the driver side of the vehicle has been determined.

The feature extraction frequently involves identifying the edges of objects in the field of view and the angular orientation of the found edges. The locations of the edges and their orientation can then be input into appropriate recognition software. Other feature extraction techniques are also applicable.

A pattern recognition technique such as a trained neural network can be used to determine which of the trained occupancies most closely corresponds to the measured data. The output of the neural network can be an index of the setup that was used during training that most closely matches the current measured state. This index can be used to locate stored information from the matched trained occupancy. Information that has been stored for the trained occupancy typically includes the locus of the centers of different objects and an appropriate icon. For the case of FIG. 1, it is also known from one of the techniques to be described below where the object is located relative the vehicle.

There are many mathematical techniques that can be applied to simplify the above process. One technique used in military pattern recognition, for example, uses the Fourier transform of particular areas in an image to match by correlation with known Fourier transforms of known images. In this manner, the identification and location can be determined simultaneously. There is even a technique used for target identification whereby the Fourier transforms are compared optically. Other techniques utilize thresholding to limit the pixels that will be analyzed by any of these processes. Still other techniques search for particular features and extract those features and concentrate merely on the location of certain of these features.

A particularly useful technique, as mentioned above, calculates the location of the edges of the object in the blind spot and uses these extracted edges as the features that are fed to the neural network. (See, for example, the Kage et al. artificial retina paper referenced above which, together with the references cited therein, is incorporated herein by reference.)

1.2 Blind Spots

In the discussion below, blind spots are used as an example of monitoring the space around the vehicle. Although the phrase “blind spot” is used, it is the intention of the inventors that this is merely an example of monitoring the exterior of the vehicle and thus “blind spot” will be used as a surrogate for monitoring of any area surrounding the vehicle from the vehicle.

The principle used in this embodiment of the invention is to use images of different views of an object in the blind spot to correlate with known images that were used to train a neural network for blind spot occupancy. Then, carefully measured positions of the known images are used to locate particular parts of the object such as the windshield, tires, radiator grill, headlights, etc.

An alternate approach is to make a three-dimensional map of the object in the blind spot based on the optical energy or waves received by the receiver components of the assemblies 5-9 and to precisely locate these features using neural networks, fuzzy logic or other pattern recognition techniques. One method of obtaining a three-dimensional map is to utilize a scanning laser radar (lidar) system where the laser is operated in a pulse mode and the distance from the object being illuminated is determined using range-gating in a manner similar to that described in various patents on micropower impulse radar to McEwan. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,394 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,600). Range gating is also disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/034,325, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,202,776. Alternately, the laser can be modulated and the phase of the reflected and the transmitted light can be compared to determine the distance to the object.

The scanning portion of the laser radar device can be accomplished using rotating mirrors, mechanical motors, galvanometer mirrors, MEMS mirrors or preferably, a solid state system, for example an acousto-optical utilizing TeO₂ as an optical diffraction crystal with lithium niobate crystals driven by ultrasound (although other solid state systems not necessarily using TeO₂ and lithium niobate crystals could also be used). An alternate method is to use a micromachined mirror, which is supported at its center or edge and caused to deflect by miniature coils or electrostatically. Such a device has been used to provide two-dimensional scanning to a laser. This has the advantage over the TeO₂-lithium niobate technology in that it is inherently smaller and lower cost and provides two-dimensional scanning capability in one small device. The maximum angular deflection that can be achieved with this process is in the order of about 10 degrees. A diverging lens or mirror can be used to achieve a greater angular scan if necessary. An alternate preferred approach is to use passive optical images with superimposed infrared dots created by an array of infrared laser diodes in a manner similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,496.

An alternate method of obtaining three-dimensional information from a scanning laser system is to use multiple arrays to replace the single arrays used in FIG. 1. In the case, the arrays are displaced from each other and, through triangulation, the location of the reflection from the illumination by a laser beam of a point on the object can be determined by triangulation and/or correlation in a manner that is understood by those skilled in the art.

One important point concerns the location and number of optical assemblies. For an automobile, one assembly is generally placed on each side of the vehicle such as shown by assemblies 5, 6. In some embodiments, a third assembly 7 can be placed to view the blind spot behind the vehicle and a fourth assembly 7 can be placed to view in front of the vehicle for automatic cruise control, for example.

1.3 Optical Methods

An alternate configuration is shown at assembly 9 which is a lens arrangement which provides a view of 360 degrees by approximately 20 degrees. Although this camera does not provide as complete a view of objects in the various blind spots, it is possible using a single device to observe areas on both sides as well as the front and back of the vehicle. The same lens is used for receiving the images and for projecting a rotating scanning laser beam that approximately bisects the 20-degree angle. This rotating laser beam is modulated thereby permitting the distance to the reflected laser light to be determined. A rotating mirror, that also serves to deflect the laser beam, captures the returned laser light. This mirror is positioned so that it is above the portion of the lens used for receiving the images such that laser system does not interfere with the imaging system.

Special lenses are used to collect the light from the spherical segmented lens and project the combined image onto a CMOS imager. In some cases, software is provided to remove known distortions for image analysis or, in other cases, this is not necessary as the pattern recognition system has been trained on the combined received image, or a segmented version thereof which divides the image into, for example, four segments representing front, right, rear, and left quadrants.

1.4 Combined Optical and Acoustic Methods

An ultrasonic system is the least expensive and potentially provides less information than the laser or radar systems due to the delays resulting from the speed of sound and due to the wave length which is considerably longer than the laser systems. The wavelength limits the detail that can be seen by the system. In spite of these limitations, as shown in Breed et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,782), ultrasonics can provide sufficient timely information to permit the position and velocity of an approaching object to be accurately known and, when used with an appropriate pattern recognition system, it is capable of positively determining the class of the approaching object. One such pattern recognition system uses neural networks and is similar to that described in the papers by Gorman et al. and in the rear facing child seat recognition system referenced and described in the Breed et al. patent referenced above.

The particular locations of the optical assemblies are selected to provide accurate information as to the locations of objects in the blind spots. This is based on an understanding of what information can be best obtained from a visual image. There is a natural tendency on the part of humans to try to gauge distance from the optical sensors directly. This typically involves focusing systems, stereographic systems, multiple arrays and triangulation, time-of-flight measurement, phase comparison, etc. What is not intuitive to humans is to not try to obtain this distance directly from apparatus or techniques associated with the mounting location but instead to get it from another location. Whereas ultrasound is quite good for measuring distances from the transducer (the z-axis), optical systems are better at measuring distances in the vertical and lateral directions (the x and y-axes).

For monitoring the interior of the vehicle, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,453 this can more easily done indirectly by another transducer. That is, the z-axis to one transducer is the x-axis to another. For external monitoring, the preferred approach, as described below, is to use an array of LEDs or a scanning laser and locate the position of the object in blind spot by triangulation, time-of-flight, range-gating or phase measurement although sometimes appropriately located cameras in concert can provide three-dimensional information directly (such as by stereo cameras).

Systems based on ultrasonics and neural networks, and optics and optical correlation have been very successful in analyzing the seated state of both the passenger and driver seats in the interior of automobiles. Such systems are now in production for preventing airbag deployment when a rear facing child seat or an out-of-position occupant is present. The ultrasonic systems, however, suffer from certain natural limitations that prevent the system accuracy from getting better than about 99 percent. These limitations relate to the fact that the wavelength of ultrasound is typically between 3 mm and 8 mm. As a result, unexpected results occur which are due partially to the interference of reflections from different surfaces.

Additionally, commercially available ultrasonic transducers are tuned devices that require several cycles before they transmit significant energy and similarly require several cycles before they effectively receive the reflected signals. This requirement has the effect of smearing the resolution of the ultrasound to the point that, for example, using a conventional 40 kHz transducer, the resolution of the system is approximately three inches, although this has been recently improved. These limitations are also present in the use of ultrasound for exterior vehicle monitoring.

In contrast, the wavelength of the portion of the infrared spectrum that is contemplated for one preferred use in the invention is less than five microns and no significant interferences occur. As a result, resolution of the optical system is determined by the pixel spacing in the CCD or CMOS arrays or the speed of the pin or avalanche diode and scanner when used. For this application, typical arrays have been selected to be approximately 100 pixels by 100 pixels and therefore, the space being imaged can be broken up into pieces that are significantly less than a few inches in size. If greater resolution is required, arrays having larger numbers of pixels are readily available.

Another advantage of optical systems is that special lenses can be used to magnify those areas where the information is most critical and operate at reduced resolution where this is not the case. For example, the area closest to the center of the blind spot can be magnified and those areas that fall out of the blind spot, but are still being monitored, can be reduced. This is not possible with ultrasonic or radar systems where it is even very difficult to get an image of sufficient resolution to permit an identification of the object to be accomplished.

Additional problems of ultrasonic systems arise from the slow speed of sound and diffraction caused by variations in air density. The slow sound speed limits the rate at which data can be collected and thus eliminates the possibility of tracking the motion of an object moving at high speed relative to the vehicle.

1.5 Discussion of the External Monitoring Problem and Solutions

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, transmitter/receiver assemblies 5-9 may be designed to emit infrared waves that reflect off of objects in the blind spot, for example, and return thereto. Periodically, the assemblies 5-9, as commanded by control circuit 12, transmits a pulse of infrared waves and the reflected signal is detected by a different assembly. Alternately, a continuous scanning arrangement can be used. The transmitters can either transmit simultaneously or sequentially. An associated electronic circuit and algorithm in control circuit 12 processes the returned signals as discussed above and determines the identity and location of the object in the blind spot. This information is then sent to a warning system that alerts the driver to the presence of the object as described in more detail below. Although a driver side system has been illustrated, a similar system is also present on the passenger side and can be applied to the front and rear of the vehicle.

The accuracy of the optical sensor is dependent upon the accuracy of the camera. The dynamic range of light external to a vehicle exceeds 120 decibels. When a car is driving at night, for example, very little light may be available whereas when driving in a bright sunlight, the light intensity can overwhelm most cameras. Additionally, the camera must be able to adjust rapidly to changes and light caused by, for example, the emergence of the vehicle from a tunnel, or passing by other obstructions such as trees, buildings, other vehicles, etc. which temporarily block the sun and cause a strobing effect at frequencies approaching 1 kHz.

Recently, improvements have been made to CMOS cameras that have significantly increased their dynamic range. New logarithmic high dynamic range technology such as developed by IMS Chips of Stuttgart, Germany, is now available in HDRC (High Dynamic Range CMOS) cameras. This technology provides a 120 dB dynamic intensity response at each pixel in a monochromatic mode. The technology thus has a 1 million to one dynamic range at each pixel. This prevents blooming, saturation and flaring normally associated with CMOS and CCD camera technology. This solves a problem that will be encountered in an automobile when going from a dark tunnel into bright sunlight.

There is also significant infrared radiation from bright sunlight and from incandescent lights. Such situations may even exceed the dynamic range of the HDRC camera and additional filtering including polarizing filters may be required. Changing the bias on the receiver array, the use of a mechanical iris, light valve, or electrochromic glass or liquid crystal or a similar filter can provide this filtering on a global basis but not at a pixel level. Filtering can also be used with CCD arrays, but the amount of filtering required is substantially greater than that required for the HDRC camera.

Liquid crystals operate rapidly and give as much as a dynamic range of 10,000 to 1 but may create a pixel interference effect. Electrochromic glass operates more slowly but more uniformly thereby eliminating the pixel effect. This pixel effect arises whenever there is one pixel device in front of another. This results in various aliasing, Moiré patterns and other ambiguities. One way of avoiding this is to blur the image. Another solution is to use a large number of pixels and combine groups of pixels to form one pixel of information so that the edges and blurred and eliminate some of the problems with aliasing and Moiré patterns. Finally, range gates can be achieved as high speed shutters by a number of devices such as liquid crystals, garnet films, Kerr and Pockel cells or as preferred herein as described in patents and patent applications of 3DV Systems Ltd., Yokneam, Israel including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,327,073, 6,483,094, US2002/0185590, WO98/39790, WO97/01111, WO97/01112 and WO97/01113.

One straightforward approach is the use a mechanical iris. Standard cameras already have response times of several tens of milliseconds range. They will switch, for example, at the frame rate of a typical video camera (1 frame=0.033 seconds). This is sufficiently fast for categorization but probably too slow for dynamic object position tracking when the object in the blind spot is traveling at a high speed relative to the host vehicle.

An important feature of the IMS Chips HDRC camera is that the full dynamic range is available at each pixel. Thus, if there are significant variations in the intensity of light within the vehicle blind spot, and thereby from pixel to pixel, such as would happen when sunlight streams and through a row of trees, for example, the camera can automatically adjust and provide the optimum exposure on a pixel by pixel basis. The use of the camera having this characteristic is beneficial to the invention described herein and contributes significantly to system accuracy. CCDs generally have a rather limited dynamic range due to their inherent linear response and consequently cannot come close to matching the performance of human eyes.

A key advantage of the IMS Chips HDRC camera is its logarithmic response that comes closest to matching that of the human eye. One problem with a logarithmic response is that the variation in intensity from pixel to pixel at an edge may be reduced to the point that the edge is difficult to recognize. A camera with less dynamic range can solve this problem at the expense of saturation of part of the image. One solution is to take several images at a different resolution and combine them in such a manner as to remove the saturation and highlight the edges. This is described in the article “High Dynamic Range Imaging: Spatially Varying Pixel Exposures” referenced above.

Other imaging systems such as CCD arrays can also of course be used with this invention. However, the techniques will be different since the camera is very likely to saturate when bright light is present and to require the full resolution capability when the light is dim. Generally, when practicing this invention, the blind spots will be illuminated with spots or a line of infrared radiation in a scanning mode. If a non-high dynamic range imager is used, the full illumination of the blind spot area may be required.

In a preferred embodiment, infrared illumination is used although this invention is not limited to the use of infrared illumination. However, there are other bright sources of infrared that must be accounted for. These include the sun and any light bulbs that may be present outside the vehicle including headlights from other vehicles. This lack of a high dynamic range inherent with the CCD technology essentially requires the use of an iris, liquid crystal, light valve and/or electrochromic glass or similar filter to be placed between the camera and the scene.

Even with these filters however, some saturation will take place with CCD cameras under bright sun or incandescent lamp exposure. This saturation reduces the accuracy of the image and therefore the accuracy of the system. In particular, the training regimen that must be practiced with CCD cameras is more severe since all of the saturation cases must be considered because the camera is unable to appropriately adjust. Thus, although CCD cameras can be used, HDRC logarithmic cameras such as manufactured by IMS Chips are preferred. HDRC logarithmic cameras not only provide a significantly more accurate image but also significantly reduce the amount of training effort and associated data collection that must be undertaken during the development of the neural network algorithm or other computational intelligence system. Note that in some applications, it is possible to use other more deterministic image processing or pattern recognition systems than neural networks such as optical correlation techniques.

Another important feature of the HDRC camera from IMS Chips is that the shutter time for at least one model is constant at less than about 100 ns irrespective of brightness of the scene. The pixel data arrives at constant rate synchronous with an internal imager clock. Random access to each pixel facilitates high-speed intelligent access to any sub-frame (block) size or sub-sampling ratio and a trade-off of frame speed and frame size therefore results. For example, a scene with 128 K pixels per frame can be taken at 120 frames per second, or about 8 milliseconds per frame, whereas a sub-frame can be taken at as high as 4000 frames per second with 4 K pixels per frame. This combination allows the maximum resolution for the identification and classification part of the object sensing problem while permitting a concentration on those particular pixels which track the leading edge of the object for dynamic position tracking. In fact, the random access features of these cameras can be used to track multiple parts of the image and thus, in some cases, multiple objects simultaneously while ignoring the majority of the image, and do so at very high speed.

For example, several motorcycles or pedestrians in the blind spot can be tracked simultaneously by defining separate sub-frames for each individual object that is not connected to other objects. This random access pixel capability, therefore, is optimally suited for recognizing and tracking multiple objects in a blind spot. It is also suited for monitoring the environment outside of the vehicle other than for the purpose of blind spot detection such as collision avoidance and anticipatory sensing. Photobit Corporation of 135 North Los Robles Ave., Suite 700, Pasadena, Calif. 91101 manufactures another camera with some characteristics similar to the IMS Chips camera. Other competitive cameras can be expected to appear on the market.

Photobit refers to their Active Pixel Technology as APS. According to Photobit, in the APS, both the photo detector and readout amplifier are part of each pixel. This allows the integrated charge to be converted into a voltage in the pixel that can then be read out over X-Y wires instead of using a charge domain shift register as in CCDs. This column and row addressability (similar to common DRAM) allows for window of interest readout (windowing) which can be utilized for on chip electronic pan/tilt and zoom. Windowing provides added flexibility in applications, such as disclosed herein, needing image compression, motion detection or target tracking.

At least one model of the APS utilizes intra-pixel amplification in conjunction with both temporal and fixed pattern noise suppression circuitry (i.e., correlated double sampling), which produces exceptional imagery in terms of wide dynamic range (˜75 dB) and low noise (˜15 e-rms noise floor) with low fixed pattern noise (<0.15% sat). Unlike CCDs, the APS is not prone to column streaking due to blooming pixels. This is because CCDs rely on charge domain shift registers that can leak charge to adjacent pixels when the CCD register overflows. Thus, bright lights “bloom” and cause unwanted streaks in the image. The active pixel can drive column buses at much greater rates than passive pixel sensors and CCDs.

On-chip analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) facilitates driving high speed signals off chip. In addition, digital output is less sensitive to pickup and crosstalk, facilitating computer and digital controller interfacing while increasing system robustness. A high speed APS recently developed for a custom binary output application produced over 8,000 frames per second, at a resolution of 128×128 pixels. It is possible to extend this design to a 1024×1024 array size and achieve greater than 1000 frames per second for machine vision. All of these features are important to many applications of this invention.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,515 provides additional information on the APS camera from Photobit. To put this into perspective, a vehicle passing another vehicle at a relative velocity of 60 mph moves approximately 1 inch per millisecond relative to the slower vehicle. This renders the frame rate and computational times critically important and within the capabilities of the HDRC and APS technologies.

These advanced cameras, as represented by the HDRC and the APS cameras, now make it possible to more accurately monitor the environment in the vicinity of the vehicle. Previously, the large dynamic range of environmental light has either blinded the cameras when exposed to bright light or else made them unable to record images when the light level was low. Even the HDRC camera with its 120 dB dynamic range may be marginally sufficient to handle the fluctuations in environmental light that occur. Thus, the addition of an electrochromic, liquid crystal, light valve or other similar filter may be necessary. This is particularly true for cameras such as the Photobit APS camera with its 75 dB dynamic range.

At about 120 frames per second, these cameras are adequate for cases where the relative velocity between vehicles is low. There are many cases, however, where this is not the case and a higher monitoring rate is required. This occurs for example, in collision avoidance and anticipatory sensor applications as well as in blind spot applications where one vehicle is overtaking another at high speed. The HDRC camera is optimally suited for handling these cases since the number of pixels that are being monitored can be controlled resulting in a frame rate as high as about 4000 frames per second with a smaller number of pixels.

Another key advantage of the HDRC camera is that it is quite sensitive to infrared radiation in the 0.8 to 1 micrometer wavelength range. This range is generally beyond visual range for humans thereby permitting this camera to be used with illumination sources that are not visible to the human eye. This IR sensitivity can be increased through special chip doping procedures during manufacture. A notch frequency filter is frequently used with the camera to eliminate unwanted wavelengths. These cameras are available from the Institute for Microelectronics (IMS Chips), Allamndring 30a, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany with a variety of resolutions ranging from 512 by 256 to 720 by 576 pixels and can be custom fabricated for the resolution and response time required.

FIG. 2 illustrates the arrangement of FIG. 1 in a traffic situation. Optical assembly 6 on the subject or “host” vehicle contains an illuminating light source and a CMOS array. The illuminating light source of the optical assembly 6, either an array of scanning LEDs or a scanning laser radar device, distributes infrared radiation or energy in the form of distinct narrow angle beams or a line that covers or fills in the blind spot between bounding lines 10 and 11. Any object such as vehicle 23 that is within this blind spot will be illuminated by infrared and the image of object will be captured by the CMOS array of the optical assembly 6.

An optical infrared transmitter and receiver assembly is shown generally at 7 in FIG. 3A and is mounted onto the side rear view mirror 16. Assembly 7, shown enlarged, comprises a source of infrared radiation including an array of 20 infrared LEDs, shown generally at 13, and a CCD or CMOS array 14 of typically 160 pixels by 160 pixels. The CCD or CMOS array 14 is horizontally spaced apart from the LED array 13. In this embodiment, a “heads-up” display can be used to show the driver an artificial image including the host vehicle and objects in the blind spot as described below.

If two spaced-apart CCD arrays are used (e.g., array 14 and array 15 shown in FIG. 3A), then the distance to the various objects within the blind spot can be found by using a triangulation algorithm that locates similar features on both images and determines their relative location on the images. This is frequently referred to as a stereoscopic system such as described in European Patent Application No. EP0885782 A1. An alternate method is to use a lens with a short focal length. In this case, the lens is mechanically focused to determine the clearest image and thereby obtain the distance to the object. This is similar to certain camera auto-focusing systems such as one manufactured by Fuji of Japan. Other methods can be used as described in the patents and patent applications referenced above.

FIG. 3B shows a similar arrangement for mounting on a truck mirror. In this case, since the geometry of the mirror provides greater separation vertically than horizontally, the illumination source 13 is placed on the top of the mirror housing 27 and the imager 14 is placed at the bottom of the mirror housing 27. The “imager” 14 may comprise a CCD array or CMOS array. Two or more spaced-apart imagers 14 can be used in this embodiment as well and the techniques described above applied to determine the relative location of features in images obtained by the imagers 14.

Once a vehicle exterior monitoring system employing a sophisticated pattern recognition system, such as a neural network or optical correlation system, is in place, it is possible to monitor the motions of the object over time, and thereby determine if the object is acting in a predictable manner. If not, the driver of the host vehicle can be warned so that he or she can take evasive action. For example, a vehicle may be in the blind spot and the driver may be losing control of the vehicle as may happen in a passing situation when the passing vehicle has hit a patch of ice. This warning may be sufficient to allow the driver of the host vehicle to slow down and thereby avoid an accident with the out-of-control vehicle.

The system can also be used to turn on the vehicle hazard lights, sound the horn or take other appropriate action in case the driver of the threatening vehicle has fallen asleep and to warn other adjacent vehicles of a potentially dangerous situation. Thus, in general, another vehicular system can be controlled based on the determination of the presence and/or motion of the object detected in the blind spot. The use of a heads-up display is particularly useful for such a warning system since the driver is presumably looking through the windshield. Out-of-control monitoring can also apply to the host vehicle if its trajectory is unexpected relative to objects along the roadside or other proximate vehicles.

Infrared waves are shown coming from side transducer assemblies 17 and 18 in FIG. 4. As such, assemblies 17, 18 constitute infrared transmitters. In this case, CMOS imagers 19 and 20 are mounted on the side rear view mirrors providing ample displacement for triangulation calculations. Thus, FIG. 4 shows one arrangement of non-collocated transmitters and receivers, it being understood that other arrangements in which the transmitters are not collocated with the receivers are also within the scope and spirit of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates two optical systems each having a source of infrared radiation and a CCD or CMOS array receiver. In this embodiment, transducer assemblies 5 and 6 are CMOS arrays having 160 by 160 pixels covered by a lens. The lens is carefully designed so that it completely covers the blind spot area under surveillance. One such sensor placed by the left outside mirror where it can monitor the entire vehicle left exterior blind spot with sufficient resolution to determine the occupancy of the blind spot. CCD's such as those used herein are available from Marshall Electronics Inc. of Culver City, Calif.

The lens need not be non-distorting. The distortion of a lens can be designed by modifying the shape of the lens to permit particular portions of the exterior of the passenger compartment to be observed. The particular lens design will depend on the location on the vehicle and the purpose of the particular receiver. In this example, the light source, which is an array of modulated LEDS is collocated with the CMOS imager. Note that although only four beams are illustrated on each side of the vehicle, typically twenty such beams are used. A modulated scanning laser can alternately be used.

CCD arrays are in common use in television cameras, for example, to convert an image into an electrical signal. For the purposes herein, a CCD will be used interchangeably with CMOS and will be defined to include all devices, including CMOS arrays, TFA arrays, focal plane arrays, artificial retinas and particularly HDRC and APS arrays, which are capable of converting light frequencies, including infrared, visible and ultraviolet, into electrical signals. The particular CCD array used for many of the applications disclosed herein is implemented on a single chip that is less than two centimeters on a side. Data from the CCD array is digitized and sent serially to an electronic circuit (at times designated 12 herein) containing a microprocessor for analysis of the digitized data. In order to minimize the amount of data that needs to be stored, initial processing of the image data can take place as it is being received from the CCD array. In some cases, some image processing can take place on the chip such as described in the Kage et al. artificial retina article referenced above.

One method of determining distance to an object directly without resorting to range finders, requiring multiple arrays, is to use a mechanical focusing system. However, the use of such an apparatus is cumbersome, expensive, and slow and has questionable reliability. An alternative is to use the focusing systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,124 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,166. However, such systems can require expensive hardware and/or elaborate algorithms and again are slow.

Another alternative is where an infrared source having a wide transmission angle such that the entire contents of the blind spot illuminated, a sort of infrared floodlight. The receiving CCD transducers can be spaced apart so that a stereographic analysis can be made by the control circuitry 12. This circuitry 12 contains a microprocessor with appropriate pattern recognition algorithms along with other circuitry as described above. In this case, the desired feature to be located is first selected from one of the two returned images from either of the CCD transducers. The software then determines the location of the same feature, through correlation analysis or other methods, on the other image and thereby, through analysis familiar to those skilled in the art, determines the distance of the feature from the transducers.

Transducer assemblies 5 and 6 are illustrated mounted onto the side mirrors of the vehicle, however, since these transducers are quite small, typically approximately 2 cm on a side, they could alternately be mounted onto the side of the vehicle or many other locations which provide a clear view of the blind spot.

A new class of laser range finders has particular application here. This product, as manufactured by Power Spectra, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., is a GaAs pulsed laser device which can measure up to 30 meters with an accuracy of <2 cm and a resolution of <1 cm. This system can be implemented in combination with transducer assemblies 5 or 6. Once a particular feature of an object in the blind spot has been located, this device can be used in conjunction with an appropriate aiming mechanism to direct the laser beam to that particular feature. The distance to that feature is then known to within about 2 cm and with calibration even more accurately.

In addition to measurements within the blind spot, this device has particular applicability in anticipatory sensing applications exterior to the vehicle. An alternate technology using range gating or phase measurements to measure the time-of-flight of electromagnetic pulses with even better resolution can be implemented based on the teaching of the McEwan patents or the Intelligent Technologies Int'l patent application listed above or by modulation of the laser beam and using phase measurements such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,462.

FIG. 6A is an overhead view and FIG. 6B a side view of a truck showing some preferred mounting locations of optical exterior vehicle monitoring sensors (transmitter/receiver assemblies or transducers) 160, 161. In a typical device, the diameter of the lens is approximately 2 cm and it protrudes from the mounting surface by approximately 1 cm. This small size renders these devices almost unnoticeable by observers exterior to the vehicle.

Since the sensors and transducer assemblies used in some embodiments of the invention are optical, it is important that the lens surface remains relatively clean. Control circuitry 120 contains a self-diagnostic feature where the image returned by a transducer assembly or sensor is compared with a stored image and the existence of certain key features is verified. If a receiver part of an assembly or sensor fails this test, a warning is displayed to the driver that indicates that cleaning of the lens surface is required.

The truck system shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrates the use of a single blind spot detection system for the entire length of truck. The fundamental issue that determines the size of the blind spot that can be monitored with a single system relates to the ability to measure the location of the object. When a HDRC camera is used, if an object can seen in the blind spot by the human eye, then the camera should also be able to obtain a reasonable image. At night, this would require that the object in blind spot have some form of attached illumination. On a dark cloudy night, the human eye has trouble seeing a car parked along the roadway with its lights extinguished. The more distant the object, the more difficult it is to obtain a recognizable image if illumination is not present.

A significant improvement to the situation occurs if the blind spot is flooded even with low-level infrared radiation. This argues for an infrared floodlight in addition to the distance measuring infrared system. If an infrared floodlight is used along with multiple cameras displaced from one another, then the location of object in the blind spot can be determined by optical correlation between the two images and by triangulation calculations. This may be a practical solution for trucks especially those containing multiple trailers. A truck with multiple cameras placed along the left side of the vehicle is illustrated in FIG. 6C. Of course, a bright IR floodlight based on a high powered diode laser and appropriate optics can be used.

The other limiting case is when bright sunlight is present and only a single imager is used for a particular blind spot. For this case, a scanning laser infrared beam, or a high powered laser diode spotlight, can still be distinguished as a reflection off of an object in the blind spot providing a narrow notch filter is used to eliminate all frequencies other than the particular infrared frequency used. Even in this case, the distance where the reflected infrared beam can be ascertained in bright sunlight can be limited to perhaps fifteen meters. Therefore, this system can be marginal for long trucks unless multiple systems are used along the side of the truck as shown at 28 in FIG. 6C. Note that certain mid-infrared frequencies having wavelengths above 10 microns are particularly good in that the radiation from the sun is significantly attenuated. Low cost imagers are not currently available but are under development for these frequencies.

From the above discussion, it would appear that multiple cameras may be the only viable solution for long trucks. A further problem arises in this system design in that if the cameras are located on different trailers, or for some other reason can move relative to each other, then the analysis computer must know the location and orientation of each camera. There are a variety of ways of accomplishing this orientation such as through locating laser beams or monitoring the relative positions of the various components of the truck. In one example, a laser beam is used to illuminate a spot on the road that can be observed from multiple camera locations. Using the position of this reflected dot in the images acquired by various cameras, the relative orientation is approximately determined. Naturally, more complicated and sophisticated systems are possible. RFID tags offer another method of determining the relative location of a point on a trailer relative to the tractor if multiple antennas are used and if the relative time of arrival of the received RFID signals are measured.

The blind spot monitoring systems described above in FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C are mainly applicable for blind spots occurring during highway travel. For urban travel of a truck where frequent turns are made, another blind spot occurs on right hand side of the vehicle (in countries where vehicles drive on the right side of the road) and extends somewhat forward of the vehicle and back somewhat beyond vehicle cab. This area, which cannot be seen by the driver, can contain pedestrians, small vehicles, bicycles, curbs, fire hydrants, motorcycles, as well as a variety of other objects. Another more local blind spot system that covers this area is therefore necessary, as illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B and which is designated 24.

The applications described herein have been illustrated mainly using the driver side of the vehicle. The same systems of determining the position of an object in the blind spot are also applicable on the passenger side.

A significant number of children are killed every year by being run over by school buses. This tragic accident occurs when a child leaves the school bus and walks in front of the bus in the driver's blind spot. The driver starts driving the bus and strikes the child. A blind spot monitor of this invention, i.e., one or more transducer assemblies, is shown mounted on the front of school bus 25 near the top of the engine compartment 180 in FIGS. 8A and 8B. This monitoring system alerts the driver of the presence of an object obstructing the path of the school bus 25.

The system shown in FIG. 9 illustrates a blind spot monitoring system 26 built according to the teachings of this invention. The system can utilize a high dynamic range camera, identification and ranging capability with or without illumination or, alternately, a linear scanning laser range meter or laser spotlight. The view provided to the driver shows the location, size and identity of all objects that are within the path of the backing vehicle. The display provides maximum contrast by using icons to represent the host vehicle and the objects in the blind spot. Although this is shown for a truck, it is equally applicable for other vehicles including buses and automobiles. It can also be used in a rear impact anticipatory sensor where both the displacement and velocity, by either Doppler or differencing distance measurements, of the approaching object can be determined.

The monitoring system 26 could be activated whenever the vehicle is in reverse, unless it is also used for rear impact anticipatory sensing. Thus, the system 26 would not be needed when the vehicle is traveling forward. When the gear is shifted into reverse, a sensor could be provided to detect the change in gear and then activate the monitoring system 26. Similarly, a monitoring system which is for forward blind spot such as in front of the bus 25 shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B could be designed to activated only when the vehicle is in forward gear and not stopped or in reverse. As such, when the gear is shifted into forward, the system 25 would be activated.

If both a forward and rear monitoring system are provided, then the activation of both of these monitoring systems would not need to be simultaneous but could depend on the direction of travel of the vehicle. In this case, a single display could be provided to the driver and alternatively display the contents of the forward blind spot or rear blind spot depending on the direction of the travel of the vehicle, i.e., in which gear the vehicle is in.

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram showing interface between five blind spot monitoring systems and control circuitry 12. The control circuitry 12 monitors the output from the five blind spot monitoring systems and creates icons and places the icons on a display 30,31 that shows the host vehicle and all objects in the immediate vicinity of the host vehicle. Software is provided in the microprocessor to sound a warning signal or activate haptic actuators 33 under a predetermined set of circumstances such as an attempt by the driver to change lanes into a lane occupied by an object in the blind spot. This warning signal may also be activated if the driver activates the turn signal. In addition to the audio warning signal, a visual flashing signal provided on the display and a vibration or pressure or torque or other haptic signal applied to the steering wheel to prevent or make it more difficult for driver execute the maneuver.

The display 30, 31 would selectively or alternatively display the contents of each blind spot. A screen-within-a-screen type display could also be used to display one blind spot in a majority of the screen and another blind spot in a small portion of the screen. As noted above, the blind spot displayed could depend on the status of the gear of the vehicle. The blind spot displayed could also depend on the direction of turning of the front wheels, the direction of turning of the rear wheels and/or the activation of the right or left turn signals.

2. Displays

FIG. 11 illustrate a control module 36 that contains a variety of electronic components 37-42. The control module is connected to the blind spot monitoring system including the transducer assemblies 5-9 by wires, not shown, or wirelessly and in turn it connects to a display on the instrument panel 31 or a heads-up display 30. Based on the calculations performed in a microprocessor 41, the control module 36 creates the icons on displays 30 and 31 and additionally initiates audio and haptic warnings as described above. The connection between the control module 36 and the audio and haptic actuators may be a wired connection or a wireless connection.

FIG. 12 is a further illustration of the heads-up display 30 shown in FIG. 11. The heads-up display 30 is constructed according to well-known principles and the image is projected focused in front of vehicle 29 such that the driver can observe the image without taking his or her eyes from the road.

3. Identification

The use of trainable pattern recognition technologies such as neural networks is an important part of this invention, although other non-trained pattern recognition systems such as fuzzy logic, correlation, Kalman filters, and sensor fusion can also be used. These technologies are implemented using computer programs to analyze the patterns of examples to determine the differences between different categories of objects. These computer programs are derived using a set of representative data collected during the training phase, called the training set. After training, the computer programs output computer algorithms containing the rules permitting classification of the objects of interest based on the data obtained after installation on the vehicle.

These rules, in the form of an algorithm, are implemented in the system that is mounted onto the vehicle. The determination of these rules is important to the pattern recognition techniques used in this invention. Neural networks either singularly or combination neural networks are contemplated by this invention. Combination neural networks are groups of two or more neural networks and include modular neural networks and ensemble neural networks among others. Also cellular neural networks and support vector machines are also contemplated by this invention.

Artificial neural networks using back propagation are thus far one of the most successful of the rule determination approaches. However, research is underway to develop systems with many of the advantages of back propagation neural networks, such as learning by training, without the disadvantages, such as the inability to understand the network and the possibility of not converging to the best solution. In particular, back propagation neural networks will frequently give an unreasonable response when presented with data than is not within the training data. It is known that neural networks are good at interpolation but poor at extrapolation. A combined neural network fuzzy logic system, on the other hand, can substantially solve this problem. Additionally, there are many other neural network systems in addition to back propagation. In fact, one type of neural network may be optimum for identifying the contents of the blind spot and another for determining the location of the object dynamically.

The discussion thus far has identified pattern recognition systems and particularly neural network pattern recognition systems to be used to identify the contents of the blind spot. One particular neural network architecture has been particularly successful in this field. This is known as modular neural networks. The concept behind modular neural networks is that when a complicated task is to be accomplished by a neural network, significant improvements in speed and accuracy can sometimes be obtained if the overall problem is divided into a number of smaller problems. A separate neural network is then assigned each sub-task. Thus, a network of neural networks is created.

When a human observes a tree, the human mind concentrates on characteristics of that tree and not on characteristics of an automobile. Thus, the human mind appears to operate also as a modular neural network. There are many ways of applying this concept to blind spot monitoring. Since both the identity and the location of object in the blind spot are to be determined, it is logical to therefore separate the problem into a first neural network that determines the identity of the object and then a variety of additional neural networks that, given the identity of the object, determine its location. In addition, a separate neural network may be trained to segregate any unknown objects from data that are not understood by the neural networks because nothing similar was a part of the training database.

Additional tasks that can be allocated to specific neural networks are to determine environment that the vehicle is operating in. Obviously, an automobile in a blind spot looks considerably different at night with its headlights on than in bright sunlight. The identification and also the position determining tasks can be more accurate if they are segregated by lighting conditions. Similarly, the presence of fog, smoke, rain, snow, soiled lenses, and other factors can have a significant effect on the system accuracy and allocated to separate groups of neural networks.

In some embodiments of this invention, the rules are sufficiently obvious that a trained researcher can look at the returned optical signals and devise an algorithm to make the required determinations. In others, artificial neural networks are frequently used to determine the rules. One such set of neural network software for determining the pattern recognition rules, is available from the NeuralWare Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pa. and another from International Scientific Research in Panama City, Panama. Numerous books and articles, including more than 500 U.S. patents, describe neural networks in great detail and thus the theory and application of this technology is well known and will not be repeated here. Neural networks are now beginning to gain more widespread use in the automotive industry including their use for engine control, occupant spatial sensing for the control of airbags, side and frontal crash sensor algorithms and vehicle diagnostic systems.

The system generally used in this invention for the determination of the presence of an object in the blind spot is the artificial neural network or a neural-fuzzy system. In this case, the network operates on the returned signals from the CCD or CMOS array as sensed by transducer assemblies such as 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in FIG. 1, for example. For the case of the left blind spot, through a training session, the system is taught to differentiate between many cases including automobiles, pedestrians, bicycles, trucks, animals, motorcycles, fences, guard rails, parked vehicles etc. This is done by conducting a large number of experiments where data from each of these objects is captured in a variety of positions, velocities and vehicle operating conditions (rain, night, bright sunlight, rural roads, interstate highways, etc.). As many as 1,000,000 such experiments are run before the neural network is sufficiently trained and validated so that it can differentiate among the various cases and output the correct decision with a very high accuracy.

Once the network is determined, it is possible to examine the result to determine, from the algorithm created by the neural network algorithm generating software, the rules that were finally arrived at by the trial and error training technique. In that case, the rules can then be programmed into a microprocessor. Alternately, a neural computer can be used to implement the network directly. In either case, the implementation can be carried out by those skilled in the art of pattern recognition using neural networks.

Many systems are now on the market that monitor obstructions in the rear of a vehicle and warn the driver of the existence of such obstructions when the driver is backing a vehicle. The technologies currently used include radar, ultrasound and TV cameras. Neither radar nor ultrasound are generally capable of identifying the object and most such systems cannot locate the object which might allow the driver to slightly change his or her direction and avoid a curb or pole, for example. The television camera systems typically do not have illumination sources and at best produce a poor television image to the driver that is difficult to see in sunlight.

FIGS. 13A, 13B and 13C illustrate one preferred method of separating an object in the blind spot from other objects in preparation for input into a neural network for identification and/or position determination. FIG. 13A illustrates a view of the image as seen by a side rear view transducer assembly 7 of FIG. 1.

Various filters are employed to simplify and idealize the view the output of which is shown in FIG. 13B. A variety of technologies exist to eliminate remaining background objects and isolate the vehicle to arrive at the image as shown in FIG. 13C.

In one preferred method, the distance to the objects to the left and right of the vehicle can determined by the laser radar system described above. This permits the elimination of objects that are not in the same plane as the blind spot vehicle. Any of the distance measuring schemes described above along with pattern matching or pattern linking techniques can be used to extract the vehicle. Other techniques involve the use of relative motion of the object in the blind spot that may involve the use of optical flow calculations. A preferred method is through the use of range gating as discussed above. No one system is ideal unless the full three-dimensional representation of entire scene has been achieved. Therefore, a variety of techniques are used depending on particular problem at hand.

FIG. 14 illustrates a lane-changing problem in congested traffic. In this illustration, the driver of vehicle 46 wants to change lanes to pass vehicle 47. However, vehicle 45 is in the blind spot and if vehicle 46 attempts this lane change, an accident may result. Using the teachings herein, the driver of vehicle 46 will be made aware either through a visual display or through warning signals, optical, audio and/or haptic, should the driver attempt to execute such a lane change. The driver may be made aware of the presence of the vehicle 45 in the blind spot upon activation of the turn signal, upon detection of the beginning of the lane change as reflected in the turning of the steering wheel or front wheels of the vehicle and/or by the presence of an icon showing the vehicle 45 in the display 30,31.

A detailed discussion of pattern recognition technology as applied to the monitoring and identification of occupants and objects within a vehicle is discussed in Breed et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,782). Although the application herein is for the identification of objects exterior to the vehicle, many of the same technologies, principles and techniques are applicable.

An example of such a pattern recognition system using neural networks using sonar is discussed in two papers by Gorman, R. P. and Sejnowski, T. J. “Analysis of Hidden Units in a Layered Network Trained to Classify Sonar Targets”, Neural Networks, Vol. 1. pp 75-89, 1988, and “Learned Classification of Sonar Targets Using a Massively Parallel Network”, IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Vol. 36, No. 7, July 1988.

4. Anticipatory Sensors

FIG. 15 is an angular perspective overhead view of a vehicle 50 about to be impacted in the side by an approaching vehicle 51, where vehicle 50 is equipped with a blind spot monitor or anticipatory sensor system showing a transmitter 52 transmitting electromagnetic, such as infrared, waves toward vehicle 51. This is one example of many of the uses of this invention for exterior monitoring.

The transmitter 52 is connected to an electronic module 56. Module 56 contains circuitry 57 to drive transmitter 52 and circuitry 58 to process the returned signals from receivers 53 and 54. Circuitry 58 contains a neural computer 59, which performs the pattern recognition determination based on signals from receivers 53 and 54 (FIG. 15A). Receivers 53 and 54 are mounted onto the B-Pillar of the vehicle and are covered with a protective transparent cover. An alternate mounting location is shown as 55 which is in the door window trim panel where the rear view mirror (not shown) is frequently attached.

One additional advantage of this system is the ability of infrared to penetrate fog and snow better than visible light, which makes this technology particularly applicable for blind spot detection and anticipatory sensing applications. Although it is well known that infrared can be significantly attenuated by both fog and snow, it is less so than visual light depending on the frequency selected. (See for example L. A. Klein, Millimeter-Wave and Infrared Multisensor Design and Signal Processing, Artech House, Inc, Boston 1997, ISBN 0-89006-764-3). Additionally, much of the reflection from fog, smoke, rain or snow can be filtered out using range gating, which masks reflections that come from certain distance ranges from the sensor.

Radar systems, which may not be acceptable for use in the interior of the vehicle, are now commonly used in sensing applications exterior to the vehicle, police radar being one well-known example. Miniature radar systems are now available which are inexpensive and fit within the available space. Such systems are disclosed in the McEwan patents described above. One particularly advantageous mode of practicing the invention for these cases, therefore, is to use a CW radar or pulsed laser radar system, along with a CCD array. In this case, the radar is used to determine distance and the CCD for identification.

In a preferred implementation, transmitter 52 is an infrared transmitter and receivers 53, 54 and 55 are CCD transducers that receive the reflected infrared waves from vehicle 51. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 15, an exterior-deployed airbag 60 is shown which deploys in the event that a side impact is about to occur as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,810 and elsewhere herein.

In most of the applications above, the assumption has been made that either a scanning spot, beam or a line of light will be provided. This need not be the case. The light that is emitted to illuminate the object can be structured light. Structured light can take many forms starting with, for example, a rectangular or other macroscopic pattern of light and dark can be superimposed on the light by passing it through a filter. If a similar pattern is interposed between the reflections and the camera, a sort of pseudo-interference pattern can result sometimes known as Moiré patterns. A similar effect can be achieved by polarizing transmitted light so that different parts of the object that is being illuminated are illuminated with light of different polarization. Once again, by viewing the reflections through a similarly polarized array, information can be obtained as to where the source of light came from which is illuminating a particular object. Different modulation schemes can also be used to create different patterns and the modulation can be varied in time for particular applications.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,462 for interior vehicle monitoring and U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,810 for exterior monitoring, a modulated light source can be used to determine the distance to an object either interior or exterior of the vehicle. The basic principle is that the phase of the reflected light is compared to the phase of the transmitted light and the distance to the reflecting object is determined by the phase difference. There are many ways of implementing this principle. One that has recently been disclosed called the photonic mixing device or PMD. In this device, an optical filter is modulated with the same frequency and the phase that is used to modulate the transmitted light beam. In the PMD, this principle is executed on a pixel by pixel basis and incorporated into the CMOS array structure. Although still falling within the teachings of this invention, this results in an unnecessarily complicated structure. An alternate method will now be described.

An object in the blind spot or inside a vehicle is illuminated by modulated light and reflects this light back to a receiver wherein the phase relationship between the reflected light and the transmitted light is a function of the distance to the reflecting surface. For every pixel, the comparison will be made to the same frequency and phase since only one source of illuminating modulated light has been used to illuminate the entire object. Therefore, there is no advantage in attempting to influence each pixel separately with the modulation frequency and phase. A similar and preferable approach is to use a single light valve, electronic shutter or range gate to modulate all of the light coming back from the illuminated object.

The technology for modulating a light valve or electronic shutter has been known for many years and is sometimes referred to as a Kerr cell or a Pockel cell. More recent implementations are provided by the technology of 3DV discussed above. These devices are capable of being modulated at up to 10 billion cycles per second. For determining the distance to a vehicle in the blind spot, modulations between 5 and 100 MHz are needed. The higher the modulation frequency, the more accurate the distance to the object can be determined. However, if more than one wavelength, or better one-quarter wavelength, exists between the host vehicle and the object, then ambiguities result. On the other hand, once a longer wavelength has ascertained the approximate location of the vehicle, then more accurate determinations can be made by increasing the modulation frequency since the ambiguity will now have been removed.

In one preferred embodiment of this invention, therefore, an infrared floodlight, which can be from a high power laser diode, is modulated at a frequency between 5 and 100 MHz and the returning light passes through a light valve such that amount of light that impinges on the CMOS array pixels is determined by a phase difference between the light valve and the reflected light. By modulating a light valve for one frame and leaving the light valve transparent for a subsequent frame, the range to every point in the camera field of view can be determined based on the relative brightness of the corresponding pixels. Pulse or noise or pseudo noise modulation can also be used which has the advantage that the return signal can be more easily differentiated from transmissions from other vehicles. Other differentiation schemes are based on synchronizing the transmissions to the vehicle GPS location, direction of travel or some other such scheme.

Once the range to all of the pixels in the camera view has been determined, range gating becomes a simple mathematical exercise and permits objects in the image to be easily separated for feature extraction processing. In this manner, many objects in the blind spot can be separated and identified independently.

As mentioned above, it is frequently not possible to separate light from a broad illumination source from sunlight, for example. It has been determined, however, that even in the presence of bright sunlight a reflection from a narrow beam of infrared laser light, or a broader beam from a high power laser diode, can be observed providing a narrow notch frequency filter is used on the light entering the receiver. The principles described above, however, are still applicable since a sampling of pixels that have been significantly illuminated by the narrow laser beam can be observed and used for ranging.

The technique of using a wide-angle infrared floodlight is particularly useful at night when objects, especially those without self-contained lights, are difficult to observe. During bright sunlight, there is considerable information from the visual view taken by the cameras to perform feature extraction, identification, ranging etc. utilizing other techniques such as relative motion. Thus, a superior blind spot monitoring system will make use of different techniques depending on the environmental conditions.

In more sophisticated implementations of the present invention, there can be an interaction between the imaging system and the aiming direction of the infrared laser beam. For example, a particular limited area of the image can be scanned by the infrared system when the imaging system is having difficulty separating one object from another. It is expected, as the various technologies described above evolve, that very smart blind spot, anticipatory sensors and general exterior monitoring systems based on the teachings of this invention will also evolve.

In one implementation, the goal is to determine the direction that a particular ray of light had when it was transmitted from the source. Then, by knowing which pixels were illuminated by the reflected light ray along with the geometry of the transducer mountings, the distance to the point of reflection off of the object can be determined. This requires that the light source not be collocated with the CCD array. If a particular light ray, for example, illuminates an object surface that is near to the source, then the reflection off of that surface will illuminate a pixel at a particular point on the CCD or CMOS array. If the reflection of the same ray however occurs from a more distant surface, then a different pixel will be illuminated in the CCD array. In this manner, the distance from the surface of the object to the CCD can be determined by triangulation formulas.

Similarly, if a given pixel is illuminated in the CCD from a reflection of a particular ray of light from the transmitter, and the direction in which that ray of light was sent from the transmitter is known, then the distance to the object at the point of reflection can be determined. If each ray of light is individually recognizable and therefore can be correlated to the angle at which it was transmitted, then a full three-dimensional image can be obtained of the object that simplifies the identification problem.

The coding of the light rays coming from the transmitter can be accomplished in many ways. One method is to polarize the light by passing the light through a filter whereby the polarization is a combination of the amount and angle of the polarization. This gives two dimensions that can therefore be used to fix the angle that the light was sent. Another method is to superimpose an analog or digital signal onto the light that could be done, for example, by using an addressable light valve, such as a liquid crystal filter, electrochromic filter, or, preferably, a garnet crystal array. Each pixel in this array would be coded such that it could be identified at the CCD. Alternately, the transmitted radiation can be AM or FM modulated to also provide source identification.

The technique described above is dependent upon either changing the polarization or using the time or frequency domain, or a combination thereof, to identify particular transmission angles with particular reflections. Spatial patterns can also be imposed on the transmitted light that generally goes under the heading of structured light, as discussed above. The concept is that if a pattern is identifiable, then either the distance can be determined by the displacement of the pattern in the field of view if the light source is laterally displaced from the receiver or, if the transmission source is located on the same axis but axially displaced with the receiver, then the pattern expands at a different rate as it travels toward the object and then, by determining the size of the received pattern, the distance to the object can be determined. In some cases, Moiré pattern techniques are utilized.

A further consideration to this invention is to use the motion of the object, as determined from successive differential arrays, for example, to help identify that there is in fact an object in the blind spot. Differential motion can be used to separate various objects in the field of view and absolute motion can be used to eliminate the background, if desired.

In a preferred implementation, transmitter 52 is an ultrasonic transmitter operating at a frequency of approximately 40 kHz, although other frequencies could be used. Similarly, receivers 53 and 54 are ultrasonic receivers or transducers and receive the reflected ultrasonic waves from vehicle 51.

A “trained” pattern recognition system as used herein will mean a pattern recognition system that is trained on data representing different operating possibilities. For example, the training data may constitute a number of sets of a signal from receiver 53 represented the returned waves received thereby, a signal from receiver 54 representing the returned waves received thereby and one or more properties of the approaching object, e.g., its form or shape, size or weight, identity, velocity, breadth and relative distance. Once trained, the trained pattern recognition system will be provided with the signals from receivers 53, 54 and categorize the signals that would lead to a determination by the system of the property or properties of the approaching object, e.g., its size or identity.

Some examples of anticipatory sensing technologies follow:

In a passive infrared system, a detector receives infrared radiation from an object in its field of view, in this case the approaching object is most likely another vehicle, and processes the received infrared radiation radiating from the vehicle's engine compartment. The anticipatory sensor system then processes the received radiation pattern to determine the class of vehicle, and, along with velocity information from another source, makes an assessment of the probable severity of the pending accident and determines if deployment of an airbag is required. This technology can provide input data to a pattern recognition system but it has limitations related to temperature. The sensing of a non-vehicle object such as a tree, for example, poses a particular problem. The technology may also fail to detect a vehicle that has just been started especially if the ambient temperature is high. Nevertheless, for use in the identification of approaching vehicles the technology can provide important information especially if it is used to confirm the results from another sensor system.

In a passive audio system one or more directional microphones can be aimed from the rear of the vehicle can determine from tire-produced audio signals, for example, that a vehicle is approaching and might impact the target vehicle which contains the system. The target vehicle's tires as well as those to the side of the target vehicle will also produce sounds which need to be cancelled out of the sound from the directional microphones using well-known noise cancellation techniques. By monitoring the intensity of the sound in comparison with the intensity of the sound from the target vehicle's own tires, a determination of the approximate distance between the two vehicles can be made. Finally, a measurement of the rate of change in sound intensity can be used to estimate the time to collision. This information can then be used to pre-position the headrest, for example, or other restraint device to prepare the occupants of the target vehicle for the rear end impact and thus reduce the injuries therefrom. A similar system can be used to forecast impacts from other directions. In some cases, the microphones will need to be protected in a manner so as to reduce noise from the wind such as with a foam protection layer. This system provides a very inexpensive anticipatory crash system.

In a laser optical system, the transmitter 52 comprises an infrared laser beam which is used to momentarily illuminate an object as illustrated in FIG. 15 where transmitter 52 is such a laser beam transmitter. In some cases, a charge coupled device (a type of TV camera), or a CMOS optical sensor array, is used to receive the reflected light and would be used as one or both of the receivers 53 and 54. The laser can either be used in a scanning mode, or, through the use of a lens, a cone of light or a large diameter beam can be created which covers a large portion of the object. When the light covers a significant area a high powered laser diode can be used. When such a high powered laser diode is used the distance to the closest reflecting object can be measured and the intensity of the radiation at that distance controlled so as to maintain eye safety conditions. If the atmospheric conditions are also known so that the dissipation of the transmitted light can be determined then added power can be used to compensate for the losses in the atmosphere still maintaining eye safety conditions. Additionally, the beam can be made to converge at just the rate to keep the illumination intensity constant at different distances from the source. To implement some of these concepts, appropriate lens systems may be required. In some cases the lenses must respond more rapidly then possible with conventional lenses. Solid state acousto-optical based or liquid based lenses or MEMS mirrors offer the potential to operate at the required speed.

In each case, a pattern recognition system, as defined above, is used to identify and classify the illuminated object and its constituent parts. The scanning implementation of the laser system has an advantage that the displacement of the object can be calculated by triangulation of the direction of the return light from the transmitted light providing the sensor and transmitter as displaced from one another. This system provides significant information about the object and at a rapid data rate. Its main drawback is cost which is considerably above that of ultrasonic or passive infrared systems and the attenuation that results in bad weather conditions such as heavy rain, fog or snow storms. As the cost of lasers comes down in the future, this system will become more competitive. The attenuation problem is not as severe as might be expected since the primary distance of concern for anticipatory sensors as described here is usually less than three meters and it is unlikely that a vehicle will be operated with a visibility of only a few meters. If the laser operates in the infrared region of the spectrum, the attenuation from fog is less than if it is operated in the visible part of the spectrum. As mentioned above, any remaining atmosphere scattering or absorption problems can be alleviated with range gating.

Radar systems have similar properties to the laser system discussed above with the advantage that there is less attenuation in bad weather. The wavelength of a particular radar system can limit the ability of the pattern recognition system to detect object features smaller than a certain size. This can have an effect in the ability of the system to identify different objects and particularly to differentiate between different truck and automobile models. It is also more difficult to use radar in a triangulation system to obtain a surface map of the illuminated object as can be done with an infrared laser. However, for anticipatory sensing the object of interest is close to the host vehicle and therefore there is substantial information from which to create an image for analysis by a pattern recognition system providing a narrow beam radar is used. Radar remains a high price option at this time but prices are dropping.

The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between IR and mm wave radar is called the Terahertz portion of the spectrum. It has the advantage over radar in that optical methods may be able to be used thus reducing the cost and the advantage over IR in that it is absorbed or scattered less by the atmosphere. Systems are now being developed which should permit widespread use of this portion of the spectrum.

A focusing system, such as used on some camera systems, could be used to determine the position of an approaching vehicle when it is at a significant distance away but is too slow to monitor this position just prior to a crash. This is a result of the mechanical motions required to operate the lens focusing system. By itself, it cannot determine the class of the approaching object but when used with a charge coupled, or CMOS, device plus infrared illumination for night vision, and an appropriate pattern recognition system, this becomes possible. Systems based on focusing theory have been discussed above and in the referenced patents which permit a crude distance determination from two camera settings that can be preset. In some cases two imagers can be used for this purpose. A stereo camera based system is another method of getting the distance to the object of interest as discussed above and in the referenced patents and patent applications.

From the above discussion, it can be seen that the addition of sophisticated pattern recognition techniques to any of the standard illumination and/or reception technologies for use in a motor vehicle permits the development of an anticipatory sensor system which can identify and classify an object prior to the actual impact with the vehicle.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary flow diagram of one embodiment of this invention. The blind spot monitor begins by acquiring an image of the blind spot that contains an object to be identified (step 159) and by determining the range to the object (step 160) and outputs range information and image information to a feature extraction routine (step 161). The output from the feature extraction routine is fed into the neural network or other pattern recognition algorithm. The algorithm determines the identity of object (step 162). Once the identity and range of the object is known then the display can be updated (step 163). Using current and recent information, the relative velocity algorithm determines the relative velocity of the object to the host vehicle by differencing or by Doppler techniques (step 164). With the position, velocity and identity of the object in the blind spot known, an appropriate algorithm determines whether it is safe for a lane-changing maneuver (step 165). If the determination is yes, then control is returned to the image collection and ranging activities and a new image and range is determined. If the lane change determination is no, then a determination is made if the turn signal is activated (which would be indicative of the driver's intention to change lanes) (step 166). If yes, then audio and/or visual warnings are activated (step 167). If no, then a determination is made if the operator has begun to change the direction of the vehicle to begin executing a lane change (and simply failed to activate the turn signal) (step 168). If map data is present road curvature can also be taken into account. If the vehicle has begun executing a lane change, then the audio and/or visual warnings are again activated (step 167) and a haptic system begins to exert a torque on the steering wheel to oppose the turning motion of the driver (step 169). Alternately, a vibration can be induced into the steering wheel as a further warning to the operator not to execute a lane change. Following these activities, control is returned to the image acquisition and range determination activities and the process repeats.

The application of anticipatory sensors to frontal impact protection systems is shown in FIG. 17 which is an overhead view of a vehicle 70 about to be impacted in the front by an approaching vehicle 71. In a similar manner as in FIG. 15, a transmitter 72 transmits waves 73 toward vehicle 71. These waves are reflected off of vehicle 71 and received by receiving transducers 74 and 75 positioned on either side of transmitter 72.

FIG. 18A illustrates the front of an automobile 76 and shows preferred locations for transmitting transducer 72 and receiving transducers 74 and 75, i.e., the transmitter 72 below the grill and the receivers 74,75 on each side of the grill. FIG. 18A also illustrates the distinctive features of the vehicle which cause a distinct pattern of reflected waves which will differ from that of a truck 77, for example, as shown in FIG. 18B. In some pattern recognition technologies, the researcher must determine the distinctive features of each object to be recognized and form rules that permit the system to recognize one object from another of a different class. An alternative method is to use artificial neural network technology wherein the identification system is trained to recognize different classes of objects. In this case, a training session is conducted where the network is presented with a variety of objects and told to which class each object belongs. The network then learns from the training session and, providing a sufficient number and diversity of training examples are available, the network is able to categorize other objects which have some differences from those making up the training set of objects. The system is quite robust in that it can still recognize objects as belonging to a particular class even when there are significant differences between the object to be recognized and the objects on which the system was trained.

Once a neural network has been sufficiently trained, it is possible to analyze the network and determine the “rules” which the network evolved. These rules can then sometimes be simplified or generalized and programmed as a fuzzy logic algorithm. Alternately, a neural computer can be programmed and the system implemented on a semiconductor chip as available from Motorola.

The anticipatory sensor system must also be able to determine the distance, approach velocity and trajectory of the impacting object in addition to the class of objects to which it belongs. This is easily done with acoustic systems since the time required for the acoustic waves to travel to the object and back determine its distance based on the speed of sound. With radar and laser systems, the waves usually need to be modulated and the phase change of the modulation determined in order to determine the distance to the object as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,462. Since the same distance measurement techniques are used here as in the two above referenced patent applications, they will not be repeated here.

There is a radar chip available that permits the distance determination based on the time required for the radar waves to travel to the object and back. This technology was developed by Amerigon Inc. of Burbank, California and is being considered for other automotive applications such as constant distance cruise control systems and backing-up warning systems.

FIG. 18A is a plan front view of the front of a car showing the headlights, radiator grill, bumper, fenders, windshield, roof and hood and other objects which reflect a particular pattern of waves whether acoustic or electromagnetic. Similarly, FIG. 18B is a plane frontal view of the front of a truck showing the headlights, radiator grill, bumper, fenders, windshield, roof and hood illustrating a significantly different pattern. Neural network pattern recognition techniques using software available from International Scientific Research. of Panama City, Panama can be used to positively classify trucks as a different class of objects from automobiles and further to classify different types of trucks giving the ability to predict accident severity based on truck type and therefore likely mass, as well as velocity. Other software tools are also commercially available for creating neural networks and fuzzy logic systems capable of recognizing patterns of this type.

In FIG. 19, an overhead view of a vehicle 70 about to be impacted in the side by an approaching vehicle 71 in a perpendicular direction is illustrated where infrared radiation 78 is radiating from the front of the striking vehicle 71. An infrared receiver 79 arranged on the side of vehicle 70 receives this radiation for processing as described above.

The anticipatory sensor system described and illustrated herein is mainly used when the pending accident will cause death or serious injury to the occupant. Since the driver will no longer be able to steer or apply the brakes to the vehicle after deployment of an airbag which is sufficiently large to protect him in serious accidents, it is important that this large airbag not be deployed in less serious accidents where the driver's injuries are not severe. Nevertheless, it is still desirable in many cases to provide some airbag protection to the driver. This can be accomplished as shown in FIG. 20 which is a side view with portions cutaway and removed of a dual inflator airbag system, shown generally as 80, with an airbag 69 which in essence comprises two separate airbags 81 and 82 with one airbag 81 lying inside the other airbag 82. An optional variable outflow port or vent 85 is provided in connection with airbag 520 in a manner known in the art. Although a single inflator having a variable inflation rate capability can be used, FIG. 20 illustrates the system using two discrete inflators 83 and 84 which may be triggered independently or together to thereby provide a variable inflation rate of the airbag 69. Inflator 84 and associated airbag 82 are controlled by the anticipatory sensor system described herein and the inflator 83 and associated airbag 81 could also be initiated by the same system. In a less severe accident, inflator 83 can be initiated also by the anticipatory sensor without initiating inflator 84 or, alternately, inflator 83 could be initiated by another sensor system such as described U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,253. Each inflator 83, 84 contains standard materials therefor, e.g., an initiator, a gas propellant.

Thus, the variable inflation rate inflator system for inflating the airbag 69 comprises inflators 83, 84 for producing a gas and directing the gas into the airbag 69, and crash sensors (as described in any of the embodiments herein or otherwise available) for determining that a crash requiring an airbag will occur or is occurring and, upon the making of such a determination, triggering the inflator(s) 83 and/or 84 to produce gas and direct the gas into the airbag 69 to thereby inflate the same at a variable inflation rate, which depends on whether only inflator 83 is triggered, only inflator 84 is triggered or both inflators 83, 84 are triggered (see FIG. 27).

More particularly, the inflator 84 may be associated with an anticipatory crash sensor to be triggered thereby and the inflator 83 may be associated with the anticipatory crash sensor or another different sensor, such as one which detects the crash only after it has occurred. In this manner, inflator 84 will be triggered prior to inflator 83 and inflator 83, if triggered, will supply an additional amount of gas into the airbag 69.

Although the description above is based on the use of two inflators, the same result can be obtained through the use of a variable outflow port or vent 158 from the airbag 69 (additional information about a variable outflow port or vent from the airbag 69 is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,473 (FIG. 9)). A schematic drawing of an embodiment including a single inflator and a variable outflow port or vent from the airbag is shown in FIG. 28. This has the advantage that only a single inflator is required and the decision as to how much gas to leave in the airbag can be postponed.

As shown in FIG. 28, a first crash sensor 153 is an anticipatory sensor and determines that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag 69 is about to occur and initiates deployment prior to the crash or substantially concurrent with the crash. Thereafter, a second crash sensor 154, which may be an anticipatory crash sensor (possibly even the same as crash sensor 153) or a different type of crash sensor, e.g., a crush sensor or acceleration based crash sensor, provides information about the crash before it occurs or during its occurrence and controls vent control mechanism 157 to adjust the pressure in the airbag. The vent control mechanism 157 may be a valve and control system therefor which is situated or associated with a conduit connected to the outflow port or vent 85 at one end and at an opposite end to any location where the pressure is lowered than in the airbag whereby opening of the valve causes flow of gas from the airbag through the conduit and valve.

Specifically, the vent control mechanism 157 adjust the flow of gas through the port or vent 85 in the airbag 69 (FIG. 20) to enable removal of a controlled amount of gas from the airbag 69 and/or enable a controlled flow of gas from the airbag 69. In this manner, the airbag 69 can be inflated with the maximum pressure prior to or substantially concurrent with the crash and thereafter, once the actual crash occurs and additional, possibly better, information is known about the severity of the crash, the pressure in the airbag is lowered to be optimal for the particular crash (and optimally in consideration of the position of the occupant at that moment).

In the alternative, the vent control mechanism 157 can be controlled to enable removal of gas from the airbag 69 concurrent with the generation of gas by the inflator 84 (and optionally 83). In this manner, the rate at which gas accumulates in the airbag 69 is controllable since gas is being generated by inflator 84 (and optionally inflator 83, dependent on the anticipated severity of the crash) and removed in a controlled manner via the outflow port or vent 85.

4.1 Positioning Airbags

Referring again to FIG. 20, when the large airbag 82 is inflated from the driver's door, for example, it will attempt to displace the occupant away from the vehicle door. If the seatbelt attachment points do not also move, the occupant will be prevented from moving by the seatbelt and some method is required to introduce slack into the seatbelt or otherwise permit him to move. Such a system is shown in FIG. 21 which is a perspective view of a seatbelt mechanism where a device releases a controlled amount of slack into seatbelt allowing an occupant to be displaced.

The seatbelt spool mechanism incorporating the slack inducer is shown generally as 68 in FIG. 21 and includes a seatbelt 86 only a portion of which is shown, a housing 87 for the spool mechanism, a spool 88 containing several wound layers of seatbelt material 86. Also attached to the spool 88 is a sheave 89 upon which a cable 90 can be wound. Cable 90 can be connected to a piston 92 of an actuator 91. Piston 92 is positioned within a cylinder 94 of the actuator 91 so that a space is defined between a bottom of the cylinder 94 and the piston 92 and is able to move within cylinder 94 as described below.

When the anticipatory sensor system decides to deploy the airbag, it also sends a signal to the seatbelt slack inducer system of FIG. 21. This signal is in the form of an electric current which passes through a wire 96 and is of sufficient magnitude to initiate a pressure generating mechanism for generating a pressure in the space between the piston 92 and the cylinder 94 to force the piston 92 in a direction to cause the sheave 89 to rotate and thus the spool 88 to rotate and unwind the seatbelt therefrom. More specifically, the electric current through wire 96 ignites a squib 97 arranged in connection with a propellant housing 95. Squib 97 in turn ignites propellant 98 situated within housing 95. Propellant 98 burns and produces gas which pressurizes chamber 99 defined in housing 95, which is in fluid communication with the space at a bottom 93 of the cylinder 94 between the cylinder 94 and the piston 92, and pressurizes cylinder 94 below piston 92. When subjected to this pressure, piston 92 is propelled upward within cylinder 94, pulling cable 90 and causing sheave 89 to rotate in the counterclockwise direction as shown in FIG. 21. This rotation causes the spool 88 to also rotate causing the belt 86 to spool off of spool 88 and thereby inducing a controlled amount of slack into the belt and thus permitting the occupant to be displaced to the side.

In some cases, it may not be necessary to control the amount of slack introduced into the seatbelt and a simpler mechanism which releases the seatbelt can be used.

An alternate system is shown in FIG. 22 which is a frontal view of an occupant 100 being restrained by a seatbelt 101 having two anchorage points 102 and 103 on the right side of the driver where the one 102 holding the belt at a point closest to the occupant 100 is released allowing the occupant 100 to be laterally displaced to the left in the figure during the crash. A detail of the release mechanism 102 taken within the circle 22A is shown in FIG. 22A.

The mechanism shown generally as 102 comprises an attachment bolt 111 for attaching the mechanism to the vehicle tunnel sheet-metal 109. Bolt 111 also retains a metal strip 110 connected to member 106. Member 106 is in turn attached to member 108 by means of explosive bolt assembly 105. Member 108 retains the seatbelt 101 by virtue of pin 107 (FIG. 22B). A stop 112 placed on belt 101 prevents the belt from passing through the space between pin 107 and member 108 in the event that the primary anchorage point 103 fails. Upon sensing a side impact crash, a signal is sent through a wire 104 which ignites explosive bolt 105 releasing member 106 from 108 and thereby inducing a controlled amount of slack into the seatbelt.

In some implementations, the vehicle seat is so designed that in a side impact, it can be displaced or rotated so that both the seat and occupant are moved away from the door. In this case, if the seatbelt is attached to the seat, there is no need to induce slack into the belt as shown in FIG. 23. FIG. 23 is a frontal view of an occupant 115 being restrained by a seatbelt 116 integral with seat 117 so that when seat 117 moves during a crash with the occupant 115, the seatbelt 116 and associated attachments 118, 119, 120 and 121 also move with the seat allowing the occupant 115 to be laterally displaced during the crash.

Various airbag systems have been proposed for protecting occupants in side impacts. Some of these systems are mounted within the vehicle seat and consist of a plurality of airbag modules when both the head and torso need to be protected. An illustration of the use of this module is shown in FIG. 24A, which is a frontal view of an occupant 122 being restrained by a seatbelt 123 and a linear airbag module 124, of the type described in patent application publication US20020101067, including among other things a housing 126 and an inflatable airbag 125 arranged therein and associated inflator. This linear module is mounted by appropriate mounting devices to the side of seat back 127 to protect the entire occupant 122 from his pelvis to his head. An anticipatory sensor may be provided as described above, i.e., one which detects that a side impact requiring deployment of the airbag is required based on data obtained prior to the crash and initiates inflation of the airbag by the inflator in the event a side impact requiring deployment of the airbag is detected prior to the start of the impact.

Airbag module 124 may extend substantially along a vertical length of the seat back 940 as shown, and the airbag 124 in the housing 126 may be attached to the seat-back 127 or integral therewith.

A view of the system of FIG. 24A showing the airbag 125 in the inflated condition is shown in FIG. 24B.

In FIG. 25A, a frontal view of an occupant 128 being restrained by a seatbelt 129 and wherein the seat 131 is displaced toward vehicle center, i.e., away from the side and side door of the vehicle, by deploying airbag 130 is shown. In this case, the seatbelt 129 is attached to the seat 131 as described above with reference to FIG. 23. In this case, rail mechanisms 132 and 133 permit the seat to be displaced away from the door under the force produced by the deploying airbag 130. Rail mechanisms 132,133 may include a first member having a guide channel and a second member having a projection positioned for movement in the guide channel of the first member.

To enable displacement of the seat 131 and thus the occupant 128 away from the airbag-deploying structure, the door in the illustrated embodiment, by the force exerted on the seat 131 upon inflation of the airbag 130, the rail mechanisms 132,133 are preferably oriented in any direction not perpendicular to the deploying direction of the airbag, i.e., not parallel to the side of the vehicle in the illustrated example. Otherwise, if the orientation of the rails mechanisms 132,133 was parallel to the side of the vehicle and the airbag 130 deployed in a direction perpendicular to the side of the vehicle, the seat 131 would not be moved away from the side door. Obviously, to provide for the fastest possible displacement away from the airbag-deploying structure, the rail mechanisms 132,133 are oriented perpendicular to the airbag-deploying structure, which may also be parallel to the deploying direction of the airbag 130.

Thus, for an airbag mounted in the steering wheel or dashboard and designed to deploy in a frontal impact, the rail mechanisms 132,133 would optimally be oriented in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. For an airbag mounted in the side as shown in FIG. 25A, the rail mechanisms would optimally be oriented in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

In FIG. 25B, a frontal view of an occupant 128 being restrained by a seatbelt 129 and wherein the seat 131 is rotated toward vehicle center, i.e., substantially about an axis perpendicular to a horizontal plane of the vehicle, by deploying airbag 130 is shown. In this case, the seatbelt 12 is attached to the seat 131 as described above with reference to FIG. 23. In this case, rail mechanisms 134 and mounting locations 135 permit the seat to be rotated away from the door under the force produced by the deploying airbag 130. This figure is shown with the occupant rotated 90 degrees from initial position, this amount of rotation may be difficult for all vehicles. However, some degree of rotation about the vertical axis is possible in most vehicles. Rail mechanisms 134 may include a first member having a curved guide channel and a second member having a projection positioned for a curving or rotational movement in the guide channel of the first member.

As shown in FIG. 25B, the seat 131 is rotated in a clockwise direction so that the occupant is facing inward during the rotation. The rail mechanism 134 can be designed to rotate the seat 131 counterclockwise as well as along any rotational path. For example, in a frontal impact, it might be desirable to rotate the occupant toward the adjacent side door to enable the occupant to exit the vehicle via the side door and/or be extracted from the vehicle via the side door. Otherwise, if the occupant were to be rotated inward, the seat back would be interposed between the occupant and the side door and might hinder egress from the vehicle and extraction of the occupant from the vehicle after the crash.

In an alternate case where there is sufficient space for the occupant's legs and feet, the seat 131 can be rotated as shown in FIG. 25C, i.e., substantially about an axis oriented in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The rotating mechanism comprises a hinged assembly of two plates 136 and 137, with plate 136 attached to the vehicle floorpan and plate 137 attached to the vehicle seat 131. The two plates are held together by a suitable clamp 138 which is released by the sensor at the same time the airbag is deployed.

Other means for tilting the seat 131 or enabling rotation of the seat 131 about the vehicle yaw axis or roll axis are also envisioned to be within the scope of the invention.

The displacement of the seat 131 by the force exerted by the airbag upon its inflation or deployment is thus very useful for increasing the distance between the occupant and the site of the impact, whether it is a side impact, frontal impact or even a rear-impact.

Displacement of the seat 131 could also be useful in rollover situations where the occupant could benefit from such a rotation or displacement depending on the nature of the rollover. Such a system could aid in preventing the occupant's head or other body part from being partially ejected out of the passenger compartment. Thus, a rollover sensor, which can be one or more gyroscopes and/or accelerometers or even an IMU (inertial measurement unit), could replace the crash sensor for this purpose. Upon detection of a rollover, an action could be taken to inflate an airbag and enable movement of the seat when the force exerted by the inflation of the airbag is effective on the seat. One or more of the seat displacement enabling system could be incorporated into the vehicle so that one or more of these systems can be activated upon the detection of a rollover, depending on which motion of the seat and occupant would best benefit the occupant.

Many of the techniques disclosed above will not work well for some of today's small vehicles. They are more applicable in vans, sport utility vehicles, some small trucks and some minivans with some modifications. For these and other vehicles, an externally deployed airbag may be an alternate solution or both can be used together.

4.2 Exterior Airbags

Once an anticipatory sensor system is in place, it becomes possible to consider deployment of an airbag external to the vehicle. This possibility has appeared in the automobile safety literature in the past but it has not been practical until the impacting object can be identified and/or an assessment of the probable severity of the accident made. For prior art systems, it has not been possible to differentiate between a plastic sand-filled construction barrier or a cardboard box, for example, neither of which would result in a serious accident (and thus airbag deployment would not be required) and a concrete pillar, tree or wall which would likely result in a serious accident (and thus airbag deployment would be required). With the development of the pattern recognition systems described herein, and in the above referenced patents and patent applications, this problem has been solved and the use of an external airbag now becomes feasible.

Assessment of the probable severity of the impact is preferably accomplished using one or more of the pattern recognition techniques disclosed herein, whereby the identity, size or another property of the object about to impact the vehicle (or with which the vehicle is about to impact) is determined using the pattern recognition technique and the identification or determination of the object's size is considered before initiating deployment of the airbag. In this manner, upon appropriate training of the pattern recognition algorithm, if the vehicle is about to strike a large cardboard box, it will be identified as such and airbag deployment will not occur. On the other hand, if the vehicle is about to strike a large truck, it will be identified as such and airbag deployment will occur. In the prior art, no such differentiation was made about the object involved in the impact based on remote sensing, i.e., sensing prior to impact.

Such a system adapted for side impact protection is shown in FIG. 26A which is a perspective view with portions cutaway and removed of a vehicle 140 about to be impacted in the side by another vehicle 141. An airbag module is shown generally as 146 mounted to the side door of the vehicle 140 prior to inflation of an airbag 147 arranged in the airbag module 146. A portion of the side door of vehicle 140 has been cutaway to permit viewing of the airbag module 146. The vehicle 140 contains a strong support beam 144 arranged in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle at least partially within the side door(s) 142 and which provides a reaction surface along with the vehicle door 142 for the airbag. Upon initiation by the anticipatory sensor, a deployment door, not shown, is opened in an external door panel 143 by any of a number of methods such as pyrotechnically, permitting the airbag 147 to emerge from the vehicle door 142 as shown in FIG. 26B, the airbag 147 being inflated by an inflator responsive to the detection by the anticipatory sensor that a side impact requiring deployment of the airbag is required.

Through a system such as illustrated in FIGS. 26A and 26B, the accident can be substantially cushioned prior to engagement between the vehicle and the impacting object. By this technique, an even greater protection can be afforded the occupant especially if an internal airbag is also used. This has the further advantage that the occupant may not have to be displaced from behind the steering wheel and thus the risk to causing an accident is greatly reduced. It also may be the only system which will work with some of today's small vehicles. The anticipatory sensor system could determine whether the impact is one which requires deployment of only the external airbag 147 or one which requires deployment of both the internal airbag and the external airbag 147.

Although the description of FIGS. 26A and 26B relates to side impact protection, it is understood that the same concept can be used for frontal impacts and rear impacts and rollover situations. That is, the location of the airbag 147 is not limited to locations along the side of the vehicle, nor to the side door.

An anticipatory sensor system can thus be installed all around the vehicle, with multiple externally deployable airbags, whereby in use, when a determination is made that an object is about to impact the vehicle, only the airbag(s) which will inflate between the vehicle and the object, and which will cushion the impact, is/are inflated.

For example, FIGS. 29A and 29B show an externally deployable airbag mounted at the front of a vehicle so as to provide frontal impact protection. The airbag may be mounted in a housing or module in and/or proximate the bumper, fender, grille, or other part at the front of the vehicle. By using anticipatory sensing and/or exterior object identification as discussed above, the airbag is deployed prior to or at the moment of impact.

FIGS. 30A and 30B show an externally deployable airbag mounted at the rear of a vehicle so as to provide rear impact protection. The airbag may be mounted in a housing or module in and/or proximate the bumper or another part at the rear of the vehicle. By using anticipatory sensing and/or exterior object identification as discussed above, the airbag is deployed prior to or at the moment of impact.

4.3 Pedestrian Protection

FIGS. 31A and 31B show an externally deployable airbag mounted at the front of a vehicle for a situation where pedestrian protection is obtained. The airbag may be mounted in a housing or module in and/or proximate the bumper, fender, grille, or other part at the front of the vehicle. By using anticipatory sensing and/or exterior object identification as discussed above, the airbag is deployed prior to or at the moment of impact to protect the pedestrian. It can be seen by comparing FIG. 29B and FIG. 31B that the airbag for pedestrian protection deploys over the hood of the vehicle instead of in front of the vehicle. In a similar manner, an airbag for pedestrian impact protection at the rear of a vehicle would be arranged to deploy over the trunk instead of rearward as shown in FIG. 30B.

In this embodiment, the anticipatory sensor system can be designed to sense an approaching pedestrian or animal and deploy the airbag to cushion the pedestrian's or animal's impact against the vehicle.

It is envisioned that the features of the side impact protection systems, rear impact protection systems, frontal impact protection systems, and pedestrian impact protection systems can be used interchangeably to the extent possible. Thus, features of the side impact protection systems can be used for rear, frontal and pedestrian impact protection.

4.4 Positioning of Out-of-Position Occupants

In another embodiment of the invention using an anticipatory sensor system, a deploying airbag is used to position the occupant. That is, an airbag is arranged and designed to move only a part of the occupant, not necessarily the seat, so as to make room for deployment of another airbag. For example, a shoulder or thorax airbag could be deployed based on a determination from an anticipatory sensor system that a crash is imminent and a determination from an interior monitoring system that the occupant's head is resting against the window. The deploying shoulder or thorax airbag would serve to push the occupant's head away from the window, making room for the deployment of a side curtain airbag between the window and the person's head. Such positioning airbags could be strategically arranged in the vehicle to move different parts of an occupant in a specific direction and then deployed based on the position the occupant is in prior to the impact to change the occupant's status of “out-of-position” vis-à-vis airbag deployment to “in-position”.

An example of the use of positioning airbags in accordance with the invention is shown in FIGS. 32A, 32B and 32C wherein a passenger is shown leaning against a door in FIG. 32A, a positioning airbag deploys from the door to move the passenger away from the door as shown in FIG. 32B and a side curtain airbag is deployed, e.g., from a location above the window, when the passenger has been moved away from the door as shown in FIG. 32C. Ideally, the passenger or a part thereof would be moved a sufficient distance to enable effective deployment of the side curtain airbag while preventing injury.

Using a positioning airbag, the positioning airbag is preferably deployed before the main airbag or side curtain airbag. Deployment of the positioning airbag could be initiated based on anticipatory sensing of an object about to impact the vehicle, and/or in conjunction with an interior monitoring system or occupant position sensor which would sense the position of the occupant or a part thereof and determine the need to move the occupant or a part thereof to enable deployment of the main airbag or side curtain airbag, or at least to make the deployment more effective. Deployment of the positioning airbag(s) could also be based on an actual detection of a crash involving the vehicle by crush-based sensors or acceleration-based sensors and the like. Determination of the position of the occupant can lead to assessment of a situation when the occupant is out-of-position for deployment and must be moved into a better position for deployment of the main or side curtain airbag. A “better” position for deployment being a position in which the occupant is able to receive more of the benefits of the protective cushion and/or movement prevention provided by the main or side curtain airbag.

The use of positioning airbags is also particularly suited for rollovers. In a rollover situation, a vehicle 170 can move sideways toward a curb or highway barrier 171 (FIG. 33A) and then strike the barrier 171 (FIG. 33B). Upon impact with the barrier 171, the driver 172 is forced toward the driver-side window 173 while the vehicle 170 begins to rollover. At this time, as shown in FIG. 33C, the side curtain airbag 174 deploys downward. However, since the driver 172 is against the window 173, the side curtain airbag 174 may actually deploy inward of the driver 172 thereby can trap the driver 172 between the side curtain airbag 174 and the window 173. Typically the window 173 breaks so that the head of the driver 172 may actually be forced through the broken window. When the vehicle 170 completes the rollover, the driver 172 is forced against the ground and may be seriously injured if not killed (FIG. 33D).

To remedy this situation, the invention contemplates the use of one or more positioning airbags. As such, as shown in FIG. 34B, when the driver 172 is detected to be against the window 173 or simply displaced from a position in which the side curtain airbag 174 will be properly deployed, a positioning airbag 175 is deployed. Such detection of the position of the occupant may be made by any type of occupant sensor including but not limited to a proximity sensor arranged in the door. As shown in FIG. 34B, the positioning airbag 175 is arranged in a door of the vehicle 170 and deploys inward. The positioning airbag 175 may also be arranged in the side of the seat or in the side of the vehicle other than in a door. Also, the positioning airbag 175 can be controlled to deploy whenever deployment of the side curtain airbag 174 is initiated. That is, it is possible to provide a sensor for detecting when side curtain airbag 174 will deploy (for example a rollover sensor) and once such deployment is authorized, the positioning airbag 175 will be deployed prior to deployment of the side curtain airbag 174 to ensure that the driver is properly positioned (See FIGS. 34C and 34D). In this case, the activation mechanism of the positioning airbag 175 is coupled to the control device of the side curtain airbag 174.

Although a side curtain airbag has been illustrated in the various figures herein, this same invention applies when an inflatable tube or tubular airbag, such as manufactured by Simula Inc. of Arizona, is used for retention of an occupants head within the vehicle. Thus, for the purposes herein, a side curtain airbag will encompass such inflatable tube or tubular airbags or equivalent. Similarly, although they have not been widely used up until now, other systems employing nets have been proposed for this purpose and they are also contemplated by this invention.

In one typical embodiment, the positioning airbag will always be deployed in rollover accidents when the curtain or tubular airbag is deployed and an occupant position sensor is not used. Similarly, the side curtain or tubular airbag is also usually deployed even in side impacts where there is no rollover as it provides protection against the occupant's head striking the intruding vehicle. There is even a strong motivation for deploying both side positioning and curtain or tubular airbags for frontal impacts as control over the position and motion of the occupant is improved.

Finally, although it is desirable to deploy the positioning airbag first, in many cases both airbags are deployed at the same time and the fact that the positioning airbag will deploy more rapidly is relied on to prevent the entrapment of the occupant's head outside of the window. The flow of gas into the curtain airbag can be controlled to facilitate this effect.

In a frontal crash when a frontal protection airbag is used, the direction of deployment of the positioning airbag would be substantially perpendicular to the direction of deployment of the frontal airbag. That is, the positioning airbag would deploy in a direction away from the door laterally across the vehicle whereas the main airbag would deployed in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The positioning airbag would thus move the occupant laterally to obtain the benefits of the deployment of the frontal airbag. However, the angle between the deployment direction of the positioning airbag and the deployment direction of main or side curtain airbag can vary. In fact, it is conceivable that the deployment directions are the same whereby if an occupant is too close to the deployment door or location of the main airbag, then a smaller positioning airbag is deploy to push the occupant away from the deployment door and only once the occupant is sufficiently distant from the deployment location is the main airbag deployed. Monitoring of the position of the occupant is useful to determine when the positioning airbag need to be deployed and if and when the occupant is moved a sufficient distance by the deployment of the positioning airbag so as to be positioned in a proper position for deployment of the main or side curtain airbag. The rate of deployment of the positioning airbag and the amount of inflation gas used to deploy the airbag can be varied depending on the size and position of the occupant (as determined by occupant sensors for example) and the severity of the crash.

The timing of the deployments of the positioning airbag and main airbag, or the positioning airbag and side curtain airbag, can take into account the distance the occupant must be moved, i.e., the position of the occupant. This can ensure that the occupant is not moved too far by the positioning airbag out of the range of protection provided by the main airbag. The timing can thus be based on the position and/or weight of the occupant. The timing of the deployments can also or alternatively be based on the characteristics or properties of the occupant, i.e., the morphology of the occupant. For example, different deployment scenarios can be used depending on the weight of the occupant since a lighter occupant would move faster than a heavier occupant.

The rate of deployment of the main or side curtain airbag can also be varied so that it deploys more slowly than the positioning airbag. As such, the positioning airbag will have its positioning effect first and only thereafter will the main or side curtain airbag have its protective effect. The rate of deployment of the airbags can be varied in addition to the timing of the deployments.

Although the use of positioning airbags is described above with reference to FIGS. 34A-34D for a driver, it is understood that such positioning airbag can be used for each seating location in the vehicle. Also, one airbag can be used for multiple seating locations, for example, seating locations on the same side of the vehicle.

The manner in which the positioning airbag is deployed is illustrated in FIG. 35 wherein the first step is to detect a rollover or other crash situation at 240. Such detection may be based on anticipatory crash sensing. The occupant's position (present or future) may then be determined or monitored at 241. For multiple occupants, the position of each occupant can be determined at that time or it is conceivable that the occupant's position at a set time in the future is extrapolated, for example, based on the occupant's current position and velocity, the occupant's position in the immediate future can be calculated using the equation that the future position equals the current position plus the velocity times the time differential. A determination is made at 242 whether the occupant is “out-of-position” which in the rollover situation would be too close to the window. If not, then the side curtain airbag is deployed at 243. If yes, a positioning airbag is deployed at 244 to move the occupant into an appropriate position for deployment of the side curtain airbag. Optionally, the occupant's position can be determined after deployment of the positioning airbag at 245 or extrapolated based on the imparted velocity to the occupant from the deploying positioning airbag. If the position of the occupant is proper for deployment of the side curtain airbag or will be proper for the deployment of the side curtain airbag, then the side curtain airbag is deployed at 243.

Positioning airbags can be arranged at different locations throughout the vehicle with each one designed to move one or more occupants in a desired direction. A control unit for the positioning airbags, which may be a processor coupled to a crash sensor system (anticipatory or other) and occupant position determining system, determines which positioning airbag(s) are to be deployed based on the position of the occupant(s).

The general components of an apparatus for deploying multiple airbags in accordance with the invention are shown schematically in FIG. 36. A crash and/or rollover sensor system 180 is arranged on the vehicle and may include one or more anticipatory crash sensors, crush crash sensors, acceleration-based crash sensors or rollover sensors based on gyroscope(s), an IMU or angle sensors. An occupant position/velocity sensor system 181 is arranged on the vehicle to monitor the presence and position of the occupants and optionally determine the velocity of the occupants. The sensor system 181 can be any known system in the prior art including those disclosed in the assignee's U.S. patents reference above. Sensor system 181 can also include sensors which measure a morphological characteristic or property of the occupant such as the occupant's weight. The crash sensor system 180 and occupant sensor system 181 are coupled to a processor/control unit 182. Control unit 182 receives input from the crash sensor system 180 as to an expected crash involving the vehicle (when the crash sensor system 180 includes an anticipatory sensor) or an actual crash or rollover involving the vehicle. Control unit 182 determines which protective airbags need to be deployed, if any, to protect the occupants. Such protective airbags include the side curtain airbag on the left side of the vehicle 183, the side curtain airbag on the right side of the vehicle 184, the front airbag on the left side of the vehicle 185, the front airbag on the right side of the vehicle 186, and others. Control unit 182 also determines whether any of the positioning airbags 1-4 (elements 187A-187D) need to be deployed prior to and/or in conjunction with the deployment of the protective airbags. Although generally the positioning airbags are deployed prior to the deployment of the protective airbags in order to properly position an occupant, the positioning airbags could be deployed whenever the vehicle experiences a crash or rollover to provide some added cushioning. Positioning airbag 1 could be associated with the side curtain airbag on the left side of the vehicle and effective to move the occupant(s) away from the left side of the vehicle. Positioning airbag 2 could be associated with the side curtain airbag on the right side of the vehicle and effective to move the occupant(s) away from the right side of the vehicle. Positioning airbags 3 and 4 would serve to deploy to position the occupants for deployment of the respective frontal airbags.

Control unit 182 can determine the timing of the deployment of the positioning airbag and associated protective airbag, i.e., the time differential between the initiation of the inflation which will be optimum to allow the occupant time to be moved by the positioning airbag into position to be protected by the protective airbag. Control unit 182 can also determine the rate of inflation of the positioning and protective airbags, when such airbags are provided with the capability of variable inflation rates. In this case, the protective airbag may be deployed at the same time as the positioning airbag (or possibly even before) but the protective airbag inflates more slowly than the positioning airbag. Control unit 182 can also factor in the morphology of the occupant to be protected when determining the inflation parameters, i.e., the timing difference and rate of inflation. This is useful since weight of the occupant affects the occupant's movement, i.e., a heavier occupant will be moved more slowly than a lighter occupant. In some cases more gas will be allowed to flow into the airbag for heavier people than for lighter people.

5.0 Agricultural Product Distribution Machines

Referring now to FIGS. 37-46, embodiments of vehicles in accordance with an invention herein including a new ground speed sensor will be described. The ground speed sensor is designed to more accurately detect the speed of travel of the vehicle on the ground than in prior art constructions discussed above. Specifically, the ground speed sensor in accordance with the invention accounts and compensates for pitching of the vehicle and/or slipping of the wheels which would provide an incorrect ground speed using prior art constructions.

Generally, the ground speed sensor is mounted on a frame of the vehicle and includes a wave transmitter or emitter and wave receiver. The wave transmitter or emitter directs waves at an angle from the vertical plane so that the waves impact the ground and reflect from the ground back to the wave receiver. A processor or other type of computational device considers the information about the transmission or emission of the waves and the reception of the waves and calculates the speed of travel of the vehicle on the ground based on the information. The information may be the frequency of the transmitted and received waves, the time of transmission and the time of reception of the waves and other similar parameters. The speed of travel of the vehicle on the ground may be determined based on a plurality of time intervals between transmission of waves and reception of waves. The processor can also be designed to determine the speed of travel of the vehicle on the ground based on a measurement of the Doppler frequency.

The ground speed sensor may be used with various agricultural machinery and construction equipment as described below. Once the ground speed is determined, the agricultural machinery can be controlled to distribute product based in part on the ground speed or the construction machinery can be operated based in part on the ground speed.

Compensation for pitching of the vehicle may involve mounting collocated transmitter and receiver on the frame to move in a curve about a center of rotation of the vehicle upon pitching of the vehicle. The absolute pitching angle of the vehicle is measured and a reference angle is also measured with the pitching angle of the vehicle relative to the ground being the difference between the absolute pitching angle and the reference angle. The reference angle may be measured using a gravity or tilt sensor. The absolute pitching angle of the vehicle may be measured by a two antenna GPS receiver.

Various constructions of the wave transmitter and receiver may be used including those discussed above. For example, the wave transmitter may comprise one or more laser diodes, a pulsed laser and a continuous laser beam directing infrared light to scan in a line. In the latter case, a transmitter control unit for controlling the scanning laser beam of infrared light such that the infrared light traverses an area of the ground near the vehicle. The wave receiver may comprise a single pixel receptor, a CCD array, a CMOS array, an HDRC camera, a dynamic pixel camera and/or an active pixel camera.

The wave transmitter and receiver can be designed to transmit ultrasonic waves, radar waves and infrared waves among others. In the latter case, a notch filter may be used for filtering light other than infrared light emitted by the wave transmitter. A light valve can also be used as the wave receiver.

Referring now to FIG. 37, a known product distribution machine 190 generally includes a frame, at least one tank, bin or other storage compartment 191 for holding product to be distributed, and a distribution system or other conveying mechanism 193 to transmit the product to a desired location such as the field. A driving mechanism 192 passes the product from the storage compartment 191 to the conveying mechanism 193. The storage compartment 191, driving mechanism 192 and conveying mechanism 193 may be mounted on the frame or may constitute the frame.

Referring now to FIGS. 38 and 39, the control unit of the product distribution machine 190 generally includes a microprocessor 194, which enables the driving mechanism 192 to run automatically. The agricultural product distribution machine 190 is towed by a vehicle (not shown) in a field onto which product must be applied. In one embodiment of the invention, the microprocessor 194 receives command signals from a ground speed sensor 195 and from a user interface 196. The ground speed sensor 195 detects the ground speed or forward speed of the tractor, not shown, that is towing the agricultural product distribution machine 190 across the field.

The user interface 196 allows the operator to monitor and set various parameters relating to the process, such as application rate, location in the field, implement widths, calibration numbers, and the like. Some of the process parameters can be changed through controls or operator settings 197.

The operator settings 197 on the user interface 196 may be buttons or any other input device, such as keys on a keypad, switches, levers, or the like, mouse pad or even voice input. The user interface 196 is positioned in such a way that an operator can control the system while the agricultural product distribution machine 190 is traveling on the field. The user interface 196 can comprise a display and a console situated in the cab of the tractor towing the agricultural product distribution machine 190.

The ground speed and the data from the user interface 196 are processed by the microprocessor 194. Upon processing, the microprocessor 194 activates the driving mechanism 192 that, in turn, drives product from the storage compartment 191 into the conveying mechanism 193 at a controlled rate output 198.

During operation, the driving mechanism 192 runs automatically at a dispensing rate calculated based on the detected ground speed, on the operator settings, and on other process specific parameters. Therefore, the controlled rate output 198 varies with the rate data input to compensate for ground speed fluctuations and to produce a consistent application of the product onto the field.

The system in accordance with the invention assumes that detailed meter-by-meter variation in the distribution of the product onto the field is not required. Instead, one goal is a highly even distribution of product. Under these assumptions, normally the farmer will try to be certain that every part receives the optimum amount of product and thus he will tend to slightly over apply product in order to account for the inaccuracy in the ground speed sensor 195 for the case where it over calculates the true ground speed. On the other hand, when the wheels are slipping, even more product will be dispensed per linear meter. Thus, in normal operation there will be an uneven distribution of product and it will tend to result in the consumption of an excess of product. Under these assumptions, by practicing the invention, the farmer will save money as now he will not have to over-dispense product on average and in particular when the wheels are slipping. In the other case where the farmer truly dispenses the right amount of product on average but the distribution is uneven under the prior art system, he will be penalized with inferior yield and thus lose money at harvest time compared with what he will receive when practicing this invention.

The invention will be described next in the context of three preferred embodiments: air seeding systems, precision planters, and sprayers. The person skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be embodied in other types of product distribution machines.

Air Seeders

FIGS. 39 and 40 depict an air seeder or air cart 200 (which is an agricultural product distribution machine 190) embodying the present invention. The air cart 200 includes an air distribution system 203 (which is a conveying mechanism 193). The air cart 200 also includes a seeding tool 210, which may be a series of ground openers. The air distribution system 203 includes a manifold 204, and in some embodiments, a series of hoses. The air cart 200 can be attached to a vehicle, such as a tractor, or it can be built as an integral part of a vehicle. The air cart 200 includes one or more tanks 202 (which constitute a storage compartment) to hold products like seed and fertilizer. The air cart 200 also includes a driving mechanism 192. The driving mechanism 192 includes a metering system 207 to deliver the appropriate amount of product to the air distribution system 203, and a fan 205.

The metering system 207 controls the dispensing rate of product from the tanks 202 into the air distribution system 203. The dispensing rate of the metering system 207 determines the application rate of product onto the field.

Referring now to FIG. 40, the metering system 207 includes a metering wheel 208 designed to dispense product at a predetermined rate. As product passes through the metering system 207, it is carried by airflow provided by the fan 205 through the manifold to headers 206, where the product is split into several runs and then passes through the ground opener or seeding tool 201 and into the furrow created by the ground opener or seeding tool 201.

The metering system 207 is driven automatically by a variable rate drive mechanism. In the case of a metering wheel 208, the variable rate drive mechanism will rotate the metering wheel 208 at various rates. Many designs of variable rate drive mechanisms are known in the art and can be used in embodiments of the present invention.

The air cart 200 also comprises sensing equipment, including a ground speed sensor 212 for detection of the ground speed of the air cart 200. Thus, variations in the ground speed of the air cart 200 may be taken into account when calculating the application rate, so that seeds can be dispensed evenly. The accuracy with which the seeds are distributed depends on the accuracy of the ground speed sensor 212 as discussed above.

FIG. 41 is a block diagram of a system in accordance with the present invention as it applies to seeders and planters. The microprocessor 211 receives signals from the ground speed sensor 212 and the user interface 213, such as the desired rate, the implement width and the calibration value. A feedback loop returns to the microprocessor 211 the rotation rate of the metering wheel 208 at any moment (the RPM from the meter/singulator 214 which is comparable to the metering wheel 208). Based on this information, the microprocessor 211 calculates the desired rate at any moment and commands the metering wheel 208 to rotate at the desired rate. As previously indicated, the user interface 213 comprises operator setting buttons 197.

Planters

Like the air seeders, planters have several tanks for holding seed or fertilizer, and an air distribution system comprising a series of hoses. Product travels through the hoses, entering through a series of inlets into several chambers for storing the product. In one embodiment, each chamber has joined to it a fingered singulator disk. Each chamber is located just above a corresponding ground opener. The singulator disk rotates such that as each finger passes the place where product puddles into the chamber, a single seed/fertilizer falls into the finger. The disk continues to rotate such that each subsequent finger can pick up product. The filled fingers pass a brush that eliminates the chance of multiple seeds being in a single finger. The filled fingers pass another opening in the disk when the product is dropped onto an elevator opening that carries the product to the ground opener.

The driving mechanism 192 of the planters can operate in a mode as previously discussed. FIG. 41 applies to planters, as well as, seeders.

The driving mechanism 192 of the planter is activated into rotating the singulator disk 214 at the controlled rate output 370. In this mode, the controlled rate output 198 is a function of the operator settings and of the detected ground speed.

Sprayers

Referring now to FIG. 42, a basic sprayer is depicted. Generally, a sprayer has at least one storage compartment 221 for chemicals. In an embodiment of the invention, the compartment 221 contains a pre-mixed chemical ready for distribution. In an alternative embodiment, the compartments 221 store only water and, as the water travels through the distribution lines 223, the water is injected with the correct amount of chemical. The required gallons/acre ratio is known and programmed into a microprocessor 211, connected to the user interface 213 in the cab of the tractor towing the sprayer. The gallons/acre ratio is dependent upon the type of crop, the type of chemical, the position in the field, and the like. A pump 224 pushes the product into the distribution lines 223. As product is pushed into the distribution lines 223, it travels down at the flow rate necessary to dispense the required gallons/acre out of the nozzle on the spray bar. During this process, the entire system automatically remains pressurized at the appropriate level. The flow rate is dependent upon the ground speed of the sprayer.

In FIG. 43, the invention is shown applied to a vehicle speed detection system incorporated in a tracklaying vehicle such as a bulldozer. This vehicle speed detection system comprises a Doppler and displacement-measuring sensor 226 mounted on a rear part (e.g., ripper frame) of the vehicle body of a bulldozer 225 at a level h. The Doppler and displacement-measuring sensor 226 transmits an electromagnetic or ultrasonic wave beam 228 toward the ground 227 at a specified beam depression angle θ and receives a reflected wave from the ground 227. The ground speed of the bulldozer 225 is calculated based on these transmitted and received waves. The normal variation in the mounting angle is normally around φ=±5 degrees.

Referring now to FIGS. 44A and 44B which illustrate the logic of the correction executed in the vehicle speed detection system to eliminate the influence of the pitching angle of the vehicle.

FIG. 44A shown the relationship between the horizontal speed (v) of the vehicle 225 and the speed of the vehicle 225 in the direction that the waves are transmitted and is described by v cos(θ). Therefore, the relationship between Doppler shift frequency Δf and the vehicle speed v is described by the following equation (2), which is basically the same equation as (1). Δf=2fV cos(θ)/C  (2)

where:

f is transmission frequency, and

C is electromagnetic wave propagation velocity.

In this embodiment, the sensor 226 moves in a curve about the center of rotation of the vehicle 225 when the vehicle 225 pitches. To this end, the sensor 226 is movably mounted to a frame of the vehicle 225.

The pitching movement rotates the sensor 226 changing its effective transmission angle relative to the ground 227. If the angle of the vehicle 225 relative to the ground 227 is known due to pitching, then the angle θ can be corrected and the Doppler velocity determined. This can be accomplished using an angular rate sensor as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,107 or by using a tilt sensor such as manufactured by Frederick.

However, an angular rate sensor only measures the change in the pitch angle and therefore it requires that a reference be provided such as by a gravity or tilt sensor, otherwise the results are inaccurate. Even using the tilt sensor poses problems as to when the sensor is giving an accurate reading in the presence of frequent and rapid angular motions. Pitch can also be accurately measured if a two antenna GPS receiver is present but then the system begins to get expensive. This is not a totally illogical solution, however, since GPS receivers are rapidly becoming less expensive as they are put in cell phones to satisfy federal 911 mandates. Of course, all of these solutions fail if the vehicle is operating on a hill unless an accurate map is available. What is desired is the velocity of the vehicle relative to the ground even if the ground is sloping.

The present invention solves this problem by measuring both the Doppler velocity and the distance that the transmitted waves travel to the ground 227 and return. By knowing this distance, which is the hypotenuse of the measurement triangle and by knowing the angle that the sensor transmits relative to the vertical axis of the vehicle 225, the measurement triangle is determined and the pitching angle of the vehicle 225 can be determined, assuming that the rear portion of the track or the rear wheels are touching the ground, and the transmission angle corrected to give an accurate velocity of the vehicle 225 independently of whether the vehicle 225 is traveling on level ground or a hill.

FIG. 44B illustrates the case of a counterclockwise pitch of the vehicle and where the vehicle is traveling up a hill. The distance X to the reflecting ground 227 is measured based on time-of-flight or phase relationships as discussed above and the measurement triangle determined. The base altitude of the triangle can be calculated as X sin(θ) and the altitude as X cos(θ) and then the pitch angle φ from tan(φ)=(X cos(θ)−h)/X sin(θ). The new transmission angle θ′ then is θ+φ (for angles positive clockwise) permitting a corrected calculation of the velocity of the vehicle 225.

In some cases, it is desirable to add a compass such as a fluxgate compass or a Honeywell HMR3000 magnetic compass manufactured by Honeywell. This addition makes it possible to also accurately know the heading of the agricultural vehicle and can allow some location information of where the vehicle is on the field. This then permits control of product distribution by location on the field in a much less expensive, although not as accurate, method as the Beeline system discussed above. The device is not shown in the figures but can be added as a component on a printed circuit board that contains other related components. In some cases, it would be mounted elsewhere to minimize the effects of metallic parts of the vehicles.

Although pitch has been the main focus herein, a similar system can also be used to measure roll of the vehicle if it sends and receives radiation to the side of the vehicle. When the compass as discussed above and a dual system as described here is used, all of the angles, pitch, yaw and roll as well as the vehicle displacements (and thus velocities and accelerations) can be determined and a sort of low cost inertial measurement unit has been created.

The speed sensing system or sensors 231 and 232 in accordance with the present invention is shown installed on an agricultural vehicle 230 in FIG. 45. The sensors 231 and 232 are installed high on the tractor so as to keep them away from contaminating dirt and other contaminants. The sensors 231 and 232 include transducers and are built such that their transducers emit signals along a respective path 233 and 234 that are nominally each at an angle θ with the ground of approximately 35 degrees. The vehicle is moving at a velocity V.

The sensors 231,232 may be installed on a frame of the agricultural vehicle 230 or on any of the parts of the agricultural vehicle 230 which may thus constitute the frame. That is, the agricultural vehicle 230 may include a storage compartment for storing product to be distributed, a conveying or distribution mechanism for dispensing the product to a field and a driving mechanism for conveying the product from the storage compartment to the distribution mechanism at a controlled rate. The sensors 231,232 may be mounted on the storage compartment, on the distribution mechanism and on the driving mechanism so that all of these could constitute the frame of the vehicle 230.

FIG. 46 shows a block diagram of an ultrasonic velocity and distance to ground sensor 231,232 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The microprocessor or DSP, the processor 235, generates a 40 KHz continuous signal (SO) from source 236 that is gated for a burst by gate 237 controlled by the processor 235. The burst is typically 16 cycles to allow the transducer 238 to reach full output in amplitude. The output of the gate 237 is fed through a signal splitter 239 to the Send/Receive transducer 238. The echo signal R from the ground is converted to a voltage by the Send/Receive transducer 238. This R signal is sent to the signal splitter 239 and then to an amplifier 247. The amplifier 247 drives a mixer 248 which mixes the LO (local oscillator) 249. The output of the mixer 248 goes to a 455 KHz intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier 250. The output of the IF amplifier 250 is connected to a gated PLL (phase locked loop) 251. This loop 251 is gated ON for lock during the received echo time. The output of the PLL 251 contains the IF frequency plus the Doppler frequency and is input to a multiplier 636.

The SO source 236 and the LO 249 are inputs to mixer 252, the reference channel. The output of mixer 252 drives an IF amplifier 253. The output of the amplifier 253 is provided to the multiplier 254 so that the output of the multiplier 254 is the product of IF1 and IF2. The output of the multiplier 254 will be the sum and difference of the two frequencies. The sum is then filtered out and the difference is the Doppler frequency. The Doppler frequency is measured by the microprocessor or DSP 235 and is scaled to indicate the speed in MPH or other convenient units.

The wheel slip of the tractor can be calculated, if desired, by taking the difference of the wheel speed and the ground speed by inputting the wheel speed into the to/from external equipment input of the microprocessor or DSP 235.

The IF amplifiers 250,253 have a narrow bandwidth to filter out noise from the echo signal. The IF signal has more cycles than the burst by the ratio of 455000/40000 or (11.375). This is important so that there are sufficient cycles for the PLL 251 to lock onto. For a 16 cycle 40 KHz burst, the number of cycles for PLL lock is 182 plus the ringing cycles. The PLL 251 filters out and averages the frequency of the echo. The PLL output runs at the frequency of IF1 until the next sample to the PLL 251.

A display 255 is provided coupled to the microprocessor or DSP 235 and displays the information obtained from the sensor.

The frequency of 455 KHz was selected because of the many ceramic filters that are available for this frequency. The IF bandwidth is determined by the IF filters 250,253. The drive level for the Send/Receive transducer 238 is high to maintain the best signal to noise ratio. Other frequencies of the IF filters 250,253 can be used in accordance with the invention.

The circuit can be made very compact by using surface mount components. All of the circuitry except the transducer drive operates at 3.3 volts.

The speed of sound varies significantly with air temperature and to a lesser extent with altitude. Compensation for the temperature effect can be achieved through measuring the ambient temperature via temperature sensor 256 coupled to the microprocessor or DSP 235 and calculating the value of the sound velocity, C, as is well known in the art. Similarly, a barometric sensor can be used to measure the atmospheric pressure and its effect on the speed of sound can also be calculated as is also known in the art. Alternately, a second ultrasonic transducer can be placed within the field of the first transducer but at a known displacement and the speed of sound can be measured. The measured or calculated value for C would then be used in the calculations of equations (1) or (2).

Thermal gradients caused by the sun heating the ground can also have a significant effect on the returned waveform. This problem has been solved and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,107.

Finally, wind can also affect the system by causing density changes in the air and diffracting the sound waves in much the same way as thermal gradients. The techniques for solving the thermal gradient problem such as through the use of a logarithmic compression circuit will also correct for this effect. To the extent that wind shortens the time for the waves to travel to the ground in one direction, it will lengthen that time in the other direction and the two effects cancel. A strong side-wind can deflect the path of the sound waves and create an increased path to and from the ground and thus introduce an error. Normally this is small since the wind velocity is normally small compared with the speed of sound. In rare cases where this effect needs to be considered, an anemometer can also be incorporated into the system, and coupled to the microprocessor or DSP 235, and the wind speed can then be used to correct for the path length of the ultrasound waves.

6. Distance Measurement

What follows is a discussion of a particular distance measuring design. FIG. 47 shows a circuit 260 of a distance sensor which is also capable of use in any of the embodiments disclosed herein for determining the distance between the sensor and an object. For example, with reference to the embodiments disclosed in FIGS. 37-46, the sensor can be used as a distance-to-ground sensor for determining the distance between the mounting location of the sensor and the ground.

The circuit 260 operates on a radar frequency and includes a transmitter 261 and a receiver 262. The transmitter 261 includes a 77 GHz IMPATT oscillator 263 providing a signal to an amplitude modulator 264. The amplitude modulator 264 also receives a signal indicative of a selected range F1, F2 or F3 and then directs a transmission of a signal at a specific frequency from a transmitting antenna 265. The receiver 262 includes a receiving antenna 266 which receives a signal reflected from an object, wherein it is desired to determine the distance between the sensor (in which the transmitting antenna 265 and the receiving antenna 266 are mounted) and the object.

Receiver 262 also includes a mixer 267 provided a signal by a local oscillator 268 which combines the signal from the receiving antenna 266 and the local oscillator 268 and feeds the combined signal to an AGC IF amplifier 269. The amplifier 269 amplifies the signal and feeds the amplified signal to a demodulator 270, with a feedback loop being formed to the amplifier 269. Optionally, the receiver 262 can be set up with an AFC loop for auto-tuning purposes. In this case, the frequency drift of the IMPATT oscillator 263 will have little or no effect on the operation of the circuit 260.

The signal from the demodulator 270 and the selected frequency range are fed to a phase detector 271 which derives the distance between the sensor in which the circuit 260 is embodied and the object based on the detected phase difference. From successive distance measurements, the velocity of the object can be determined.

Advantages of the circuit 260 are that it is a relatively simple circuit which can be constructed from readily available electronic components.

7. Summary

7.1 Exterior Monitoring

There has thus been shown and described a monitoring system for monitoring the exterior of the vehicle using an optical system with one or more CCD or CMOS arrays and other associated equipment which fulfills all the objects and advantages sought after.

More particularly, described above is a method for determining the identification and position of objects exterior to a vehicle which comprises transmitting optical waves into the space surrounding the vehicle from one or more locations, and comparing the images of the exterior of the vehicle with stored images of objects external to the vehicle to determine which of the stored images match most closely to the images of such objects such that the identification of the objects and their position is obtained based on data associated with the stored images. The optical waves may be transmitted from transmitter/receiver assemblies positioned at one or more locations around the exterior of the vehicle such that each assembly is situated where it has a good view of a particular space near the vehicle. Each assembly may comprise an optical transmitter (such as an infrared LED, an infrared LED with a diverging lens, a laser with a diverging lens and a scanning laser assembly, an infrared floodlight, or other light source) and an optical array (such as a CCD array and a CMOS array). The optical array is thus arranged to obtain the images of the exterior of the vehicle represented by a matrix of pixels. To enhance the method, prior to the comparison of the images, the output from each array can be compared with a series of stored arrays representing different objects using optical correlation techniques. Preferably, a library of stored images is generated by positioning an object near the vehicle, transmitting optical waves toward the object from one or more locations, obtaining images of the exterior of the vehicle, each from a respective location, associating the images with the identification and position of the object, and repeating the positioning step, transmitting step, image obtaining step and associating step for the same object in different positions and for different objects in different positions. This is similar to the training and adaptation process described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,809 on interior monitoring systems.

One of the advantages of the invention is that after the identifications and positions of the objects are obtained, one or more systems in the vehicle may be affected based on the obtained identification and position of at least one of the objects. Such systems include a visual and/or audio warning system to alert the driver to the presence, position and/or velocity of objects in the blind spots as well as a system for adjusting the turning resistance of the steering wheel to prevent movement by the driver into the path of an object. Another system could be associated with the turning indicators to provide an alarm if a turning signal is activated when an object is present in the blind spot which would interfere with the intended turn.

The image comparison may entail inputting the images or a part or form thereof into a neural network that provides for each image, an index of a stored image that most closely matches the inputted image. The index is thus utilized to locate stored information from the matched image including, inter alia, a locus of the center of the front of the object and an appropriate icon for display purposes. To this end, a display could be provided in the passenger compartment or through the use of a heads-up display to provide a visual overview of the environment surrounding the vehicle. The icons could be general icons of objects in general or more specific icons indicative of the type of vehicle, etc. Moreover, the position of the object relative to the vehicle may be determined so that an action by the driver of the vehicle that might result in an accident is prevented. It is also possible to obtain information about the location of the object from the image comparison and adjust the position of one or more of the rear view mirrors based on the location of the object. Also, the location of the object may be obtained such that an external light source may be directed toward the object to permit a better identification thereof.

In addition, the location of the locus of the center of the object exterior to the vehicle may be monitored by the image comparison and one or more systems in the vehicle controlled based on changes in the location of the locus of the center of the object exterior to the vehicle over time. This monitoring may entail subtracting a most recently obtained image, or a part thereof, from an immediately preceding image, or a corresponding part thereof, and analyzing a leading edge of changes in the images or deriving a correlation function which correlates the images with the object in an initial position with the most recently obtained images.

In another method for determining the identification and position of objects external to the vehicle in accordance with the invention, optical waves are transmitted into a space near the vehicle from a plurality of locations, a plurality of images of the exterior of the vehicle are obtained, each from a respective location, a three-dimensional map of the exterior of the vehicle is created from the images, and a pattern recognition technique is applied to the map in order to determine the identification and position of the objects. The pattern recognition technique may be a neural network, fuzzy logic or an optical correlator or combinations thereof. The map may be obtained by utilizing a scanning laser radar system where the laser is operated in a pulse mode or continuous modulated mode and determining the distance from the object being illuminated using time-of-flight, modulated waves and phase measurements with or without range gating. (See for example, H. Kage, W. Freemen, Y Miyke, E. Funstsu, K. Tanaka, K. Kyuma “Artificial retina chips as on-chip image processors and gesture-oriented interfaces”, Optical Engineering, December, 1999, Vol. 38, Number 12, ISSN 0091-3286.)

In a method for tracking motion of a vehicle in accordance with the invention disclosed above, optical waves are transmitted toward the object from at least one location, a first image of a portion of the space exterior of the vehicle is obtained, the first image being represented by a matrix of pixels, and optical waves are transmitted toward the object from the same location(s) at a subsequent time and an additional image of the particular space exterior of the passenger compartment is obtained, the additional image being represented by a matrix of pixels. The additional image is subtracted from the first image to determine which pixels have changed in value. A leading edge of the changed pixels and a width of a field of the changed pixels is determined to thereby determine relative movement of the object from the time between which the first and additional images were taken. The first image is replaced by the additional image and the steps of obtaining an additional image and subtracting the additional image from the first image are repeated such that progressive relative motion of the object is attained.

Also disclosed above is a method for controlling the steering system of a vehicle which comprises transmitting optical waves toward an object located in the vicinity of the vehicle, obtaining one or more images of an exterior space proximate to the vehicle, analyzing each image to determine the distance between the object and the vehicle, and controlling steering system to prevent the operator from causing a collision with the object based on the determined distance between the object and the vehicle. The image may be analyzed by comparing the image of a portion of the exterior of the vehicle with stored images representing different arrangements of objects in the space proximate to the vehicle to determine which of the stored images match most closely to the image of the exterior of the vehicle, each stored image having associated data relating to the distance between the object in the image and the vehicle. The image comparison step may entail inputting the image or a form or part thereof into a neural network that provides for each such image, an index of a stored image that most closely matches the image of the exterior of the vehicle. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the size of the object is measured and a vehicle system is controlled based on the determined distance between the object and the vehicle and the measured size of the object.

In another method disclosed above for determining the identification and position of objects proximate to a vehicle, one or more images of the exterior of the space proximate to the vehicle, or part thereof, of radiation emanating from the objects proximate to the vehicle, and the images of the radiation emanating from the objects are compared with stored images of radiation emanating from different objects proximate to the vehicle to determine which of the stored images match most closely to the images of the exterior objects of the vehicle such that the identification of the objects and their position is obtained based on data associated with the stored images. In this embodiment, there is no illumination of the object with optical waves. Nevertheless, the same processes described above may be applied in conjunction with this method, e.g., affecting another system based on the position and identification of the objects, a library of stored images generated, external light source filtering, noise filtering, occupant restraint system deployment control and the utilization of size of the object for vehicle system control.

Additionally disclosed above is an arrangement for obtaining information about objects in an environment around a vehicle comprises light emitting means arranged on the vehicle for emitting infrared light into the environment around the vehicle, receiver means arranged on the vehicle for receiving infrared light from the environment around the vehicle and measurement means coupled to the light emitting means and the receiver means for measuring time between emission of the infrared light by the light emitting means and reception of the infrared light by the receiver means. The measured time correlates to distance between the vehicle and an object from which the infrared light is reflected. The light emitting means may comprise an array of laser diodes, a pulsed laser or a continuous laser beam directing infrared light in a line and means for controlling the laser beam to change a direction of the infrared light such that infrared light traverses a volume of space alongside the vehicle. In the latter case, the receiver means could comprise a single pixel receptor. Otherwise, the receiver means may comprise a CCD array, a CMOS array, an HDRC camera, a dynamic pixel camera and an active pixel camera.

A processor or control circuitry is usually coupled to the receiver means, by the use of wires or even wirelessly, for providing an identification of the object from which light is reflected. The processor preferably utilizes pattern recognition techniques such as a neural network or even possibly a modular neural network to determine the distance between the vehicle and the object, the position of the object and/or the identity of the object from which light is reflected. The processor can be designed to create a three-dimensional map of a portion of the environment surrounding the vehicle based on the received optical waves or energy, and then extract features from the three-dimensional map. In the latter case, a display is provided in the passenger compartment visible to a driver of the vehicle for displaying features or representations derived from features extracted from the three-dimensional map.

As to the position of the light receiving components and associated receivers, they may be collocated or spaced apart from one another. When used for blind spot detection, they should be positioned around the vehicle to encompass the blind spots of the driver.

A system for controlling a vehicular system based on the presence of an object in an environment around a vehicle comprises any of the foregoing constructions of the arrangement for obtaining information about an object in the environment surrounding the vehicle. A vehicular system is then adapted to be controlled or adjusted upon the determination of the presence of an object in the environment around the vehicle. To this end, a processor is coupled to the arrangement and the vehicular system for obtaining the information about the object based at least on the infrared light received by the receiver means and controlling the vehicular system based on the obtained information. The vehicular system may be a display visible to a driver of the vehicle for displaying features or representations derived from features extracted from a three-dimensional map generated by the processor from the optical waves or energy received by the receiver means. The vehicular system could also be a steering wheel having an adjustable turning resistance, which is adjustable with a view toward avoiding accidents, and an audio alarm and a visual warning viewable by a driver of the vehicle.

A main feature of one embodiment of the invention is the combination of an optical system with superimposed infrared patterns. In other words, the basic system is a passive optical system. Another feature is the use of a high dynamic range camera that can be used to get the image. A third feature is to use modulated light or triangulation to determine the distance to an object in the blind spot. Another feature of the invention is to interpret and identify the image rather than just offering it to the driver. Still another feature of the invention is to provide methods of obtaining three dimensional information about objects in the vicinity of the vehicle by using modulated illumination and phase information from the reflected light.

This invention is also a system to identify, locate and monitor objects outside of a motor vehicle, such as a tractor, bulldozer, automobile or truck, by illuminating the objects outside of the vehicle with electromagnetic or ultrasonic radiation, and if electromagnetic, preferably infrared radiation, or using radiation naturally emanating from the object, or reflected from the environment and using one or more horns, reflectors or lenses to focus images of the contents onto one or more arrays of charge coupled devices (CCDs) or CMOS arrays, or on a single detector. Outputs from the CCD or CMOS arrays or other detector may be analyzed by appropriate computational means employing trained pattern recognition technologies, to classify, identify and/or locate the external objects. In general, the information obtained by the identification and monitoring system may be used to affect the operation of at least one other system in the vehicle.

In some embodiments of the invention, several CCD or CMOS arrays are placed in such a manner that the position and the motion of an object toward the vehicle can be monitored as a transverse motion across the field of the array. In this manner, the need to measure the distance from the array to the object is obviated. In other embodiments, a source of infrared light is a pulse modulated laser which permits an accurate measurement of the distance to the point of reflection through the measurement of the time-of-flight of the radiation pulse which may use the technique of range gating. In still other embodiments, a scanning array of infrared LEDs are used to illuminate spots on the object in such a manner that the location of the reflection of the spot in the field of view provides information as to the location of the object relative to the vehicle through triangulation.

In some embodiments, the object being monitored is the ground.

In still other embodiments, a scanning laser diode or equivalent is modulated and the distance determined by phase measurement with or without range gating. The light can also be modulated with more than one frequency, or with a random, pseudo-random or other code to extend the range without a loss in range accuracy at the expense of slightly more complicated electronics and/or software.

In some applications, a trained pattern recognition system, such as a neural network or neural-fuzzy system, is used to identify the object in the blind spot of the vehicle. In some of these cases, the pattern recognition system determines which of a library of images most closely matches the object in the blind spot and thereby the location of the object can be accurately estimated from the matched images and the relative size of the captured image thus removing the requirement for special lighting or other distance measuring systems.

When the wave transmitter is arranged to transmit electromagnetic waves and the wave receiver to receive electromagnetic waves, the processor may be arranged to determine both the distance between a wave transmission and reception point and the ground based on a phase difference or time of flight between the transmitted and received waves and the speed of travel of the vehicle on the ground based on the Doppler velocity. The wave receiver optionally includes a notch filter for filtering light other than infrared light emitted by the wave transmitter. Optionally, the wave receiver comprises a light valve.

In another embodiment of the invention, the vehicle comprises a wave emitting mechanism arranged on the vehicle for emitting waves at an angle toward the ground near the vehicle, a receiver mechanism arranged on the vehicle for receiving waves reflected from the ground near the vehicle, a vehicular system adapted to be controlled or adjusted based on the velocity of the vehicle relative to the ground, and a processor coupled to the wave emitting mechanism, the receiver mechanism and the vehicular system for determining the velocity of the vehicle relative to the ground and the distance to the ground based on the transmission of waves by the wave emitting mechanism and reception of waves by the receiver mechanism. The processor uses the determined distance to correct the determined velocity of the vehicle relative to the ground and controlling the vehicular system based on the corrected velocity. The waves are transmitted by the wave emitting mechanism in pulses or modulated such that the processor is able to determine the distance between a wave-transmission and reception point and the ground and the velocity of the vehicle based on analysis of the waves transmitted by the wave emitting mechanism and the waves received by the wave receiver mechanism. The same features described for the vehicle above may be used in this embodiment as well.

These objects of the invention can be achieved by a ground speed detection system incorporating a Doppler sensor according to one aspect of the invention.

7.2 Anticipatory Sensors

In general terms, disclosed above is an inflator system for inflating an airbag which comprises gas inflow means for inflating the airbag with gas, a vent (if present) for controlling removal of gas from the airbag, a first anticipatory crash sensor for determining that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag will occur based on data obtained prior to the crash and, upon the making of such a determination, directing the gas inflow means to inflate the airbag, and a second crash sensor for determining that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag will occur or is occurring and, upon the making of such a determination, controlling the vent to enable the removal of gas from the airbag whereby the pressure in the airbag is changed by the removal of gas therefrom enabled by the vent.

The gas inflow means may be in the form of an inflator, which can be an aspirated inflator, which is activated to produce gas and release the gas through conduits into the interior of the airbag. The gas inflow means can also be in the form of a tank of pressurized gas and a valve in a conduit leading from the tank to the interior of the airbag whereby opening of the valve causes flow of gas from the tank into the airbag. Any other type of structure or method which serves to cause accumulation of gas in the interior of the airbag can also be used as gas inflow means in accordance with the invention. The gas inflow means can also constitute multiple inflators which are independently activated based on, the severity of the anticipated crash. In this case, one inflator would be activated for a minor or average crash whereas for a more severe crash, two or more inflators would be activated thereby increasing the flow of gas into the airbag and the inflation rate and/or pressure therein. Each inflator could be controlled by the same or a different crash sensor.

The vent may be in the form of a variable outflow port or vent integral with the airbag, e.g., a flap built in an exterior surface of the airbag and providing a regulatable conduit between the interior of the airbag and exterior of the airbag (regulatable both with respect to the amount of gas flowing therethrough and/or the rate of gas flowing therethrough). The vent may also be in the form of a conduit leading from the interior of the airbag to the exterior of the airbag and having a regulatable valve in the conduit whereby regulated opening of the valve causes removal of gas from the interior of the airbag. In some cases, notably most curtain airbags, a vent is not used and in others the gas from the airbag is vented back through the inflator assembly.

The airbag may be, but is not required to be, a side airbag arranged to inflate between the occupant and the side door. Regardless of the direction of the crash which will causes deployment of the airbag, it is beneficial to provide some form of occupant displacement permitting means arranged in connection with the seat for permitting the occupant to be displaced away from the airbag mounting surface upon inflation of the airbag and thereby increase the space between the occupant and the airbag mounting surface. Thus, if the airbag is a side airbag mounted in the side door, it is beneficial to enable displacement of the occupant away from the side door. Such occupant displacement permitting or enabling means may be in the form of some structure which introduces slack into the seatbelt in conjunction with the deployment of the airbag or a mechanism by which the seat can be moved or is actually moved away from the side door, e.g., tilted inward.

The airbag can also be arranged to inflate to protect a rear-seated occupant and to this end, would be arranged in a back portion of the seat, attached to the back portion of the seat and/or integral with the back portion of the seat. It can also be inflated to protect occupants from striking each other by deploying the airbag between adjacent seats.

For any positioning and use, the airbag can be arranged in a housing of an airbag module. The airbag module could extend substantially along a vertical length of the back portion of the seat for a side airbag.

Another embodiment of the inflator system comprises inflator means for releasing a gas into the at least one airbag, a first anticipatory crash sensor for determining that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag will occur based on data obtained prior to the crash and, upon the making of such a determination, triggering the inflator means to release gas into the airbag, and a second crash sensor for determining that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag will occur or is occurring and, upon the making of such a determination, changing the rate at which gas accumulates in the airbag. To this end, the second crash sensor is structured and arranged to control outflow of gas from the airbag. Outflow of gas from the airbag may be controlled via a variable outflow port.

A method for inflating an airbag comprises making a first determination by means of an anticipatory crash sensor that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag will occur based on data obtained prior to the crash and, upon the making of such a determination, inflating the airbag, and making a second, separate determination by means of a second crash sensor that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag will occur or is occurring and, upon the making of such a determination, changing the rate at which gas accumulates in the airbag. The rate at which gas accumulates in the airbag may be changed by enabling and regulating outflow of gas from the airbag.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a vehicle comprises one or more inflatable airbags deployable outside of the vehicle, an anticipatory sensor system for assessing the probable severity of an impact involving the vehicle based on data obtained prior to the impact and initiating inflation of the airbag(s) in the event an impact above a threshold severity is assessed, and an inflator coupled to the anticipatory sensor system and the airbag for inflating the airbag when initiated by the anticipatory sensor system. The airbag may be housed in a module mounted along a side of the vehicle, in a side door of the vehicle, at a front of the vehicle or at a rear of the vehicle.

The anticipatory sensor system may comprise at least one receiver for receiving waves or energy and a pattern recognition system, e.g., data storage medium embodying a pattern recognition algorithm or neural network, for analyzing the received waves or energy or data representative of the received waves or energy to assess the probable severity of the impact. The pattern recognition system may also be designed to identify an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted or generated, in which case, the assessment of the probable severity of the impact is at least partially based on the identification of the object. The pattern recognition system can also be designed to determine at least one property of an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted or generated, in which case, the assessment of the probable severity of the impact is at least partially based on the determined at least one property of the object.

Also disclosed herein is an airbag passive restraint system for protecting an occupant adjacent the door in a side impact which comprises an airbag arranged to inflate between the door and the occupant and a side impact anticipatory sensor for determining that an accident requiring deployment of the airbag is about to occur prior to the accident. The sensor is arranged to receive waves generated by, modified by or reflected from an object about to impact the vehicle resulting in the accident and comprises identifying and determining means for identifying the object based on a pattern of the received waves and determining whether the identified object will cause an accident requiring deployment of the airbag. The system also includes an inflator coupled to the sensor for inflating the airbag if the sensor determines that an accident requiring deployment of the airbag is about to occur. The identifying and determining means may comprise a neural network trained on data of possible patterns of received waves in conjunction with an identification of the object the received waves have been generated by, modified by or reflected from. In the alternative, the identifying and determining means may comprise a fuzzy logic algorithm or a rule based pattern recognition algorithm. The sensor may be arranged to receive electromagnetic waves or acoustic waves.

Another disclosed embodiment of a system for triggering deployment of an airbag passive restraint system in anticipation of an accident between the vehicle and an object approaching the vehicle comprises transmitter means arranged on the vehicle for sending waves toward the object, receiver means arranged on the vehicle for receiving modified or reflected waves from the object and producing a signal representative of the waves, identifying and determining means for identifying the object based on a pattern of the received waves and determining whether the identified object will cause an accident requiring deployment of the passive restraint system and triggering means responsive to the identifying and determining for initiating deployment of the passive restraint system if the identifying and determining means determines that an accident requiring deployment of the passive restraint system is about to occur. The transmitter means may be arranged to transmit electromagnetic waves, such as radar waves, or ultrasonic waves. The identifying and determining means may comprise a neural network trained on data of possible patterns of received waves in conjunction with an identification of the object the received waves have been modified by or reflected from, a fuzzy logic algorithm or a rule based pattern recognition algorithm. The transmitter means may also comprise a laser transmitter and the receiver means comprise a charge coupled device or CMOS sensing array.

Still another disclosed embodiment of a system for triggering deployment of an airbag passive restraint system in anticipation of an accident between the vehicle and an object approaching the vehicle comprises receiver means for receiving electromagnetic waves generated, reflected or modified by the object, identifying and determining means for identifying the object based on a pattern of the received waves and determining whether the identified object will cause an accident requiring deployment of the passive restraint system and triggering means responsive to the identifying and determining means for initiating deployment of the passive restraint system if the identifying and determining means determines that an accident requiring deployment of the passive restraint system is about to occur. The receiver means may be arranged to receive light waves or infrared waves. As in the embodiments discussed above, the identifying and determining means may comprise a neural network trained on data of possible patterns of received waves in conjunction with an identification of the object the received waves have been generated, reflected or modified by, a fuzzy logic algorithm or a rule based pattern recognition algorithm. The receiver means may comprise a charge-coupled device or CMOS sensing array.

Also disclosed is a method for controlling deployment of a passive restraint system in anticipation of an accident with an approaching object which comprises mounting at least one receiver on the vehicle to receive waves generated by, modified by or reflected from an object exterior of the vehicle, conducting training identification tests on a plurality of different classes of objects likely to be involved in a vehicular accident, each of the tests comprising receiving waves generated by, modified by or reflected from the object by means of the receiver(s) and associating an object class with data from each test, and generating an algorithm from the training test results, associated object classes and an indication as to whether deployment of the passive restraint system is necessary such that the algorithm is able to process information from the received waves from the receiver(s), identify the class of the object and determine whether deployment of the passive restraint system is necessary. During operational use, a plurality of waves generated by, modified by or reflected off an object exterior of the vehicle are received by means of the receiver(s) and the algorithm is applied using the received waves as input to identify the object exterior of the vehicle and determine whether deployment of the passive restraint system is necessary. At least one transmitter may be mounted on the vehicle to transmit waves toward the object exterior of the vehicle such that the waves are reflected off or modified by the object exterior of the vehicle and received by the receiver(s).

In some implementations, the sensor system may include a variable inflation rate inflator system for inflating the airbag(s). Such an inflator system comprises inflator means for releasing a gas into the airbag(s), a first anticipatory crash sensor for determining that a crash requiring an airbag will occur based on data obtained prior to the crash and, upon the making of such a determination, triggering the inflator means to release gas into the airbag(s) to thereby inflate the same at a first inflation rate, a second crash sensor for determining that a crash requiring an airbag will occur or is occurring and, upon the making of such a determination, affecting the inflator means such that an additional quantity of gas is released thereby into the airbag(s) to thereby inflate the same at a second inflation rate greater than the first inflation rate. The inflator means may comprise first and second inflators structured and arranged to produce gas and direct the gas into the airbag(s) and which are independent of one another such that the first inflator may be triggered by the first anticipatory sensor without triggering of the second inflator and the second inflator may be triggered by the second crash sensor without triggering of the first inflator.

In conjunction with the variable inflation rate inflator system described above, a method for providing a variable inflation rate of the airbag(s) is also envisioned. Such a method would entail determining that a crash requiring an airbag will occur based on data obtained prior to the crash, e.g., by an anticipatory sensor, and upon the making of such a determination, triggering an inflator to release gas into the airbag(s) to thereby inflate the same at a first inflation rate, determining in another manner that a crash requiring an airbag will occur or is occurring and, upon the making of such a determination, affecting the inflator such that an additional quantity of gas is released thereby into the airbag(s) to thereby inflate the same at a second inflation rate greater than the first inflation rate. Thus, the airbag is inflated either at the first inflation rate, i.e., if the conditions do not warrant a more powerful inflation, or the second, higher inflation rate, i.e., if the conditions warrant an inflation of the airbags as rapidly as possible. The inflator may comprise a first and second inflator each of which produces gas and directs the gas into the airbag(s) and which are independent of one another such that the first inflator may be triggered by the initial determination of a crash requiring the airbag deployment without triggering of the second inflator and the second inflator may be triggered by the subsequent determination of a crash requiring airbag deployment without triggering of the first inflator.

Furthermore, the anticipatory sensor system described above may be used in conjunction with an airbag passive restraint system for protecting an occupant sitting in the seat adjacent the side door. Such a restraint system may comprise one or more airbag(s) arranged to be inflated between the occupant and the side door, sensor means for detecting that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag(s) is required, inflator means for releasing a gas into the airbag(s) to inflate the same and which are coupled to the sensor means and triggered thereby to release gas into the airbag(s) in response to the detection by the sensor means of a crash requiring deployment of the airbag(s), a seatbelt coupled to the seat for restraining the occupant on the seat and occupant displacement permitting means arranged in connection with the seat for permitting the occupant to be displaced away from the side door upon inflation of the airbag(s) and thereby increase the space between the occupant and the side door.

The occupant displacement permitting means may take a number of different forms all of which serve to enable the occupant to be displaced away from the side door, and if applied in conjunction with an airbag inflating between the side door and the occupant, the inflating airbag may provide a force which serves to actually displace the occupant away from the side door. One embodiment of the occupant displacement permitting means comprises slack introduction means arranged in connection with the seatbelt for introducing a controlled amount of slack into the seatbelt. Alternatively, the occupant displacement permitting means comprise means for changing an anchorage point of the seatbelt from a first anchorage point to a second anchorage point upon inflation of the airbag, both of which may be arranged on a side of the seat away from the side door. The second anchorage point is permanently fixed to the vehicle whereas the first anchorage point is defined by a strip permanently fixed to the vehicle, a first member is connected thereto, and a second member has a first position connected to the first member in which the seatbelt is retained at the first anchorage point and a second position apart from the first member in which the seatbelt is not retained at the first anchorage point. Separation means, such an explosive bolt assembly, are coupled to the sensor and move the second member from the first position to the second position so that the seatbelt is no longer retained at the first anchorage point and the displacement of the occupant is not hindered by the seatbelt.

In another embodiment, the system includes mounting means for mounting the airbag adjacent the occupant and the sensor is an anticipatory sensor structured and arranged to detect that a crash requiring deployment of the airbag is required based on data obtained prior to the crash such that the inflator means are triggered to release gas into the airbag prior to the start of the crash. In this case, the occupant displacement permitting means are optionally operatively associated with the anticipatory sensor and the seat to increase the space between the occupant and the side door upon inflation of the airbag. The occupant displacement permitting means may comprise means for laterally displacing the seat away from the side door such as one or more rail mechanisms, each including a first member having a guide channel arranged in connection with the seat or the vehicle and a second member positioned for movement in the guide channel arranged in the other of the seat and the vehicle. Alternatively, the occupant displacement permitting means comprise means for rotating the seat about the vehicle roll axis, possibly also by rail mechanisms, means for rotating the seat about the vehicle yaw axis or means for lifting the seat vertically. The seat lifting means may comprise a first plate attached to the seat, a second plate attached to the vehicle and hingedly attached to the first plate, and a clamp for releasably retaining the first plate in connection with the second plate.

Any of the airbag passive restraint systems described herein may be used in conjunction with the variable inflation rate inflator system described above, or with aspirated inflators, and may be used in conjunction with one another to optimize protection for the occupant.

In conjunction with the airbag passive restraint system for protecting an occupant sitting in the seat adjacent the side door described above, the present invention also envisions a method for protecting such an occupant. Such a method would include detecting that a crash requiring deployment of one or more airbags is required, if so, releasing a gas into the airbag(s) to inflate the same and then in before, during or after the gas is released into the airbag, causing the occupant to be displaced away from the side door upon inflation of the airbag(s) to thereby increase the space between the occupant and the side door. The manner in which the occupant is caused to be displaced away from the side door may take any of the forms described herein as well as their equivalents.

Other methods for protecting an adjacent occupant in a side impact within the scope of the invention includes mounting an airbag module comprising a housing and an inflatable airbag arranged within the housing in combination with a seat back, detecting that a side impact requiring deployment of the airbag is required based on data obtained prior to the crash, e.g., by an anticipatory sensor, and then inflating the airbag in the event a side impact requiring deployment of the airbag is detected prior to the start of the impact.

Another possible method entails the use of an externally deployable airbag system for protecting the occupant in a side impact with an impacting object. This method would include determining that a side impact requiring deployment of an airbag outside of the vehicle between the side of the vehicle and the impacting object is required based on data obtained prior to the crash, and then inflating the airbag in the event a side impact requiring deployment of the airbag is detected.

Some embodiments of inventions disclosed above comprises an anticipatory crash sensor arrangement which provides information about an object such as a vehicle about to impact the resident vehicle, i.e., the vehicle in which the anticipatory crash sensor arrangement is situated, and causes inflation of one or more airbags. For example, internal and/or external airbags might be deployed. One particular embodiment comprises an anticipatory sensor system which uses (i) a source of radiant energy either originating from or reflected off of an object or vehicle which is about to impact the side of a target vehicle, plus (ii) a pattern recognition system to analyze the radiant energy coming from the soon-to-be impacting object or vehicle to (iii) assess the probable severity of a pending accident and (iv) if appropriate, inflate an airbag prior to the impact so as to displace the occupant away from the path of the impacting object or vehicle to create space required to cushion the occupant from an impact with the vehicle interior. Instead of or in addition to inflation of an airbag in the interior of the vehicle, an airbag may be inflated exterior of the vehicle to resist the force of the colliding object and thereby reduce the severity of the collision.

Although a primary area of application of some embodiments of inventions disclosed herein is for protection in side impacts, embodiments of the invention also provide added protection in frontal impacts by reducing the incidence of injury to out-of-position occupants by permitting a slower inflation of the airbag and displacing the occupant away from the airbag prior to the impact. Additionally, it can provide added protection in rear impacts by reducing the incidence of injury caused by impacts of the occupant's head with the headrest by pre-positioning the headrest adjacent the head of the occupant based on an anticipatory rear impact sensor.

In a combined airbag inflation and occupant displacement enabling system disclosed above, a seat is movably attached to a floor pan of the vehicle for supporting an occupant, at least one airbag is arranged to be inflated to protect the occupant during a crash, an inflator or plurality of inflators is/are arranged to inflate the airbag(s), and an anticipatory sensor is coupled to the sensor and the inflator and determines that a crash will occur based on data obtained prior to the crash. In this case, the inflator(s) is/are triggered by the anticipatory sensor to inflate the airbag(s). An occupant displacement system is coupled to the anticipatory sensor for displacing or enabling displacement of the occupant based on the determination of the impending crash by the anticipatory sensor. The occupant displacement system can be a system for introducing slack into the seatbelt prior to the impact to allow the occupant to move upon impact. The occupant displacement system can also be one or more positioning airbags, which are inflated prior to the crash to move or position a part of the occupant so that the occupant is in a better or correct position for deployment of a main protective airbag.

Instead of an anticipatory sensor, a crash sensor based on acceleration or crush or another property of the vehicle can be used. In this case, the crash sensor would determine that a crash is occurring requiring deployment of the airbag(s) after the crash has begun. Nevertheless, the seat can be designed to move automatically in order to optimize and maximize the deployment of the airbag(s) upon determination of a crash regardless of the manner in which the crash is determined.

Another crash sensor arrangement may be resident on the vehicle and provides information about the impact which may be used to adjust the pressure in the airbag based on the information about the impact, if any such adjustment is determined to be required. Adjustment of the pressure may entail increasing the pressure in the airbag by, directing additional gas into the airbag(s), or releasing a control amount and/or flow of gas from the airbag(s).

Note as stated at the beginning this application is one in a series of applications covering safety and other systems for vehicles and other uses. The disclosure herein goes beyond that needed to support the claims of the particular invention that is being claimed herein. This is not to be construed that the inventors are thereby releasing the unclaimed disclosure and subject matter into the public domain. Rather, it is intended that patent applications have been or will be filed to cover all of the subject matter disclosed above.

The inventions described above are, of course, susceptible to many variations, combinations of disclosed components, modifications and changes, all of which are within the skill of those practicing the art. It should be understood that all such variations, modifications and changes are within the spirit and scope of the inventions and of the appended claims. Similarly, it will be understood that applicants intend to cover and claim all changes, modifications and variations of the examples of the preferred embodiments of the invention herein disclosed for the purpose of illustration which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the present invention as claimed.

Although several preferred embodiments are illustrated and described above, there are possible combinations using other geometries, sensors, materials and different dimensions for the components that perform the same functions. This invention is not limited to the above embodiments and should be determined by the following claims. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A motor vehicle, comprising: at least one inflatable airbag deployable outside of the vehicle; an anticipatory sensor system that obtains distance and velocity information about an object exterior of the vehicle prior to contact between the object and the vehicle; a warning system coupled to said anticipatory sensor system and that generates a warning for a driver of the vehicle based in part on the distance and velocity information about the object obtained by said anticipatory sensor system; and an inflator system coupled to said anticipatory sensor system and said at least one airbag and that controls inflation of said at least one airbag based in part on the distance and velocity information about the object obtained by said anticipatory sensor system.
 2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said anticipatory sensor system is configured to assess severity of an impact involving the vehicle and the object based in part on data obtained prior to the impact and initiate inflation of said at least one airbag by said inflator system in the event an impact above a threshold severity is assessed.
 3. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein said anticipatory sensor system comprises at least one receiver for receiving waves or energy and a pattern recognition system that analyzes the received waves or energy or data representative of the received waves or energy to assess the severity of the impact, said pattern recognition system being configured to ascertain the identity of an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted, reflected or generated, the assessment of the severity of the impact being at least partially based on the identification of the object, said pattern recognition system comprising a processor embodying a pattern recognition algorithm trained or designed to provide an output of one of a number of pre-determined identities of the object.
 4. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein said pattern recognition system is further configured to determine at least one property of the object from which the waves or energy have been emitted, reflected or generated, the assessment of the probable severity of the impact being at least partially based on the determined at least one property of the object.
 5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the at least one property is the size of the object.
 6. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein said anticipatory sensor system further comprises a transmitter for transmitting waves away from the vehicle, said at least one receiver receiving waves transmitted by said transmitter which have been reflected from objects exterior of the vehicle, the received waves being analyzed to enable assessment of the probable severity of the impact.
 7. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein when said pattern recognition system ascertains the identity of the object as being a pedestrian, said anticipatory sensor system is configured to assess the probable severity of an impact between the pedestrian and the vehicle based in part on data obtained prior to the impact, said at least one airbag being deployable to cushion impact of the pedestrian against the vehicle.
 8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the vehicle has a front, a rear, a left side and a right side, further comprising an airbag module for housing said at least one airbag, said airbag module being mounted along one of the right and left sides of the vehicle.
 9. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an airbag module for housing said at least one airbag, said airbag module being mounted in a side door of the vehicle.
 10. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an airbag module for housing said at least one airbag, said airbag module being mounted at a front of the vehicle for use in frontal impact protection.
 11. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an airbag module for housing said at least one airbag, said airbag module being mounted at a rear of the vehicle for use in rear impact protection.
 12. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising: an additional, internally deployable airbag, said anticipatory sensor system being configured to initiate inflation of said additional airbag in the event an impact above a threshold severity is assessed; and an additional inflator coupled to said anticipatory sensor system and said additional airbag for inflating said additional airbag when initiated by said anticipatory sensor system.
 13. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said anticipatory sensor system comprises at least one receiver for receiving waves or energy and pattern recognition means for analyzing the received waves or energy or data representative of the received waves or energy to determine that an impact is about to occur and to determine whether the impact requires deployment of said airbag, said pattern recognition means being configured to ascertain the identity of an object from which the waves or energy have been emitted, reflected or generated, the determination whether the impact requires deployment of said airbag being at least partially based on the identification of the object, said pattern recognition means comprising a processor embodying a pattern recognition algorithm trained to provide an output of one of a number of pre-determined identities of the object.
 14. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said anticipatory sensor system is configured to determine that an impact involving the vehicle is about to occur based in part on distance and velocity information obtained prior to the impact and determine whether the about-to-occur impact requires deployment of said at least one airbag.
 15. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said warning system is configured to generate an audible tone.
 16. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said warning system is configured to generate a visual warning.
 17. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said warning system is configured to generate an icon on a display indicative of the object.
 18. A method for improving use of a vehicle, comprising: obtaining distance and velocity information about an object exterior of the vehicle prior to contact between the object and the vehicle by means of an anticipatory sensor system; generating a warning for a driver of the vehicle based in part on the obtained distance and velocity information about the object by means of a warning system; and controlling inflation of at least one airbag deployable external from the vehicle based in part on the obtained distance and velocity information about the object by means of an inflator system.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one airbag comprises a plurality of airbags, further comprising: detecting an impending impact between the vehicle and the object prior to the impact based in part on the obtained distance and velocity information about the object by means of the anticipatory sensor system; determining severity of the impending impact prior to the impact by means of the anticipatory sensor system; and determining which of the airbags to deploy based in part on the obtained distance and velocity information about the object and then inflating the airbag(s) prior to impact when the impending impact is determined to be above a threshold severity.
 20. The method of claim 18, further comprising: receiving waves or energy from the object by means of a wave receiver; and ascertaining, using a processor, the identity of the object based in part on the received waves or energy by inputting the received waves or energy or data representative of the received waves or energy into a pattern recognition algorithm that provides an output of one of a number of pre-determined identities of the object, the warning being generated based in part on the identity of the object or the inflation of the at least one airbag being controlled based in part on the identity of the object.
 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising transmitting waves away from the vehicle by means of a wave transmitter, whereby the transmitted waves reflected off of objects and thus-reflected waves are receivable by the wave receiver.
 22. The method of claim 20, further comprising determining at least one property of the object based in part on the received waves or energy, the warning being generated based in part on the at least one property of the object or the inflation of the at least one airbag being controlled based in part on the at least one property of the object.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one property is the size of the object.
 24. The method of claim 18, wherein the vehicle has a front, a rear, a left side and a right side, the at least one airbag being situated along one of the right and left sides of the vehicle.
 25. The method of claim 18, wherein each of the at least one airbag is situated in a side door of the vehicle, at a front of the vehicle or at a rear of the vehicle.
 26. The method of claim 18, wherein the warning system generates an audible tone.
 27. The method of claim 18, wherein the warning system generates a visual warning.
 28. The method of claim 18, wherein the warning system generates an icon on a display indicative of the object. 